NHTSA To Begin Testing Back Seat Safety in 2019
Crash test dummies have long been used to simulate accidents in the front seat. It’s time for them to switch seats. Pressure is on to better protect rear passengers, as ride-sharing programs such as Uber and Lyft are putting more people in the backseat. Starting in 2019, The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) will test crash test dummies in the back seat as part of its 5-Star Safety Ratings Program. While this program is 38 years old, it has only tested and rated driver and front passenger seats thus far.
“People assume a 5-star rating extends to all seating locations, but it doesn’t,” said Kristy Arbogast, engineering director of the Center for Injury Research and Prevention at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. “The back seat hasn’t kept up.”
A recent study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia revealed that while the back seat is still the safest place for children, it is the most dangerous place for adults. The findings were consistent with prior data showing that adults sitting in the back are more likely to sustain chest injuries than adults in the front. The study found that rear-seat occupants could benefit from some of the same safety technologies used for drivers and front passengers.
"Front air bags, side air bags and knee air bags, plus features that ready safety belts when a crash is imminent and limit the amount of energy that is transferred to an occupant, are among those innovations," said a statement accompanying the Insurance Institute study.
The problem is that advancements in front seat safety technologies, including better restraints, airbags and shock absorbing seats, often have unintended consequences on rear seat passengers. Some front seats have a tendency to collapse in low-speed rear-end collisions, injuring or killing the occupants sitting behind them.
In late 2015, the NHTSA was petitioned by safety consulting firm ARCCA Inc., to review the federal standard for seat strength. Earlier this year they were also petitioned by the Center for Auto Safety to issue a public warning to parents letting them know not put their children directly behind occupied front seats if possible. The NHTSA reviewed both these petitions and declined to act based on lack of data.
NHTSA spokesman Bryan Thomas explained that regulators have to balance safety changes that help one set of occupants while hurting the other, and that the engineering behind this technology is more complex than it is often portrayed.
This testing is a great step forward for passenger safety. Testing leads to data, which leads technological innovations and a safer ride for everyone.
