— The lack of federal laws requiring tractor-trailer side underride guards allegedly should be looked at for all van-type and semi-trailers because of the dangers associated with driving under the sides of the trailers.
Federal laws require tractor-trailers to have underride guards on the rear of the trailers, but not on the sides.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced it received a petition to investigate the impact of trailers not being equipped with the side underride guards.
In addition to vehicles which can crash and slide under the trailers, the federal petition to investigate contends pedestrians, bicyclists and motorcyclists are in danger.
The petition doesn't list any certain equipment or trailer manufacturer.
Safety regulators were also petitioned in 2021 to investigate the impact of trailer side underride guards and the lack of federal regulations. However, NHTSA denied the petition.
According to the petitioner, there is evidence to prove injuries and fatalities continue to occur because trailers are not required to be equipped with the side guards.
"The petitioner contend[s] that failure to include side underride guards [SUGs] equates to a safety defect in the semi-trailer's design, construction and performance. Furthermore the petitioner alleges that despite a high severity of risk resulting in frequent severe or fatal injuries from side underride crashes, NHTSA has taken no action to investigate recalling of semi-trailers without SUGs." — NHTSA
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety insists the government should "reconsider its dramatic underestimate of the number of lives that could be saved by requiring side underride guards for large trucks."
"NHTSA requested comments on its preliminary cost-benefit analysis of requiring side underride guards on all new trailers and semitrailers. The report estimated that equipping all large trucks in the U.S. fleet would cost between $973 million and $1.2 billion and would prevent 17 fatalities and 69 serious injuries per year. However, that estimate excludes many types of crashes that are likely relevant." — IIHS
IIHS asserts requiring side underride guards could save more than 10 times as many lives as NHTSA estimates.
The Insurance Institute says crash tests indicate aftermarket side underride guards can prevent vehicles from sliding underneath truck trailers at speeds as high as 40 mph or possibly higher. In addition, IIHS stats say there were 488 passenger vehicle occupant fatalities in crashes involving the sides of tractor-trailers.
As for mandated rear trailer underride guards, IIHS developed special tests to perform on the guards.
Check out the quick video below to see how the semi-trailer side underride guards work.