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Tractor-trailers are enormous, slow to stop and make very wide turns. Passenger cars are no match against these trucks in an accident.

In a study released by the Insurance Industry for Highway Safety (IIHS), we get one more reason to drive defensively when we share the road with tractor trailers. “New crash tests and analysis by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety demonstrate that underride guards on tractor-trailers can fail in relatively low-speed crashes — with deadly consequences. The Institute is petitioning the federal government to require stronger underride guards that will remain in place during a crash and to mandate guards for more large trucks and trailers,” IIHS writes in a press release.

Kicking Tires explains, “Underride occurs when a vehicle’s front end (or more) slides underneath another vehicle, typically in rear-end collisions. When underride occurs, decapitation is a serious threat to passengers and the driver, as the above photo illustrates.”

Why are rear guards so important? “Rear guards are the main countermeasure for reducing underride deaths and injuries when a passenger vehicle crashes into the back of a tractor-trailer. In 2009, 70 percent of the 3,163 people who died in all large truck crashes were occupants of cars or other passenger vehicles. Underride makes death or serious injury more likely since the upper part of the passenger vehicle’s occupant compartment typically crushes as the truck body intrudes into the vehicle safety cage,” explains the IIHS.

To evaluate underride safety, the IIHS used a 2010 Chevrolet Malibu, an IIHS “Top Safety Pick,” and crashed the vehicle into three semi-trailer real guards that comply with US regulations. Keep in mind that these tests were not designed to evaluate the Malibu’s carshworthiness. “The aim was to see if some underride guards perform better than others and to identify what crash speeds and configurations produce different types of failure,”’ IIHS president Adrian Lund states in the release. ‘”Damage to the cars in some of these tests was so devastating that it’s hard to watch the footage without wincing. If these had been real-world crashes there would be no survivors.”’

The results of these tests are terrifying. “In many instances, the 2010 Chevrolet Malibus would underride the trucks when the guard rail failed, causing encroachment into the interior compartment of the passenger vehicles,” writes Kicking Tires.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates that about 423 people in passenger vehicles die annually when their vehicles collide with semi-trailers. Over 5,000 passengers sustain injuries. As a result, NHTSA and the IIHS are lobbying for stricter government regulation. “NHTSA Administrator David Strickland said the agency is reviewing its crash standards between large trucks and small cars,” reports The Detroit News. Strickland tells The Detroit News, “We have continued looking for ways to strengthen crash safety standards, however, including the current truck under-ride standard. In 2009, NHTSA identified under-ride performance in rear corner impact crashes as a part of the current standards that needed improvement, and today’s IIHS report is consistent with our findings.”

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