ROOF CRUSH 2.

Regulation:

   TITLE 49--TRANSPORTATION
 
CHAPTER V--NATIONAL HIGHWAY TRAFFIC SAFETY ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
 
PART 571--FEDERAL MOTOR VEHICLE SAFETY STANDARDS6--Table of Contents
 
            Subpart B--Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards
 
Sec. 571.216  Standard No. 216; Roof crush resistance.

    S1. Scope. This standard establishes strength requirements for the 
passenger compartment roof.
    S2. Purpose. The purpose of this standard is to reduce deaths and 
injuries due to the crushing of the roof into the passenger compartment 
in rollover accidents.
    S3. Application. This standard applies to passenger cars, and to 
multipurpose passenger vehicles, trucks and buses with a GVWR of 2722 
kilograms or less. However, it does not apply to--
    (a) School buses;
    (b) Vehicles that conform to the rollover test requirements (S5.3) 
of Standard No. 208 (Sec. 571.208) by means that require no action by 
vehicle occupants; or
    (c) Convertibles, except for optional compliance with the standard 
as an alternative to the rollover test requirements in S5.3 of Standard 
No. 208.

 From:      WAIS Document Retrieval

    This is the U.S. Federal Regulation (in part) that applies to vehicles under 6,000 lbs. in weight. School busses have a different standard that works.  Heavy trucks have no U.S. standard. This regulation which requires a test load of 150% of the vehicles weight applied to the "A" pillar (windshield support) does not work. There was no reason to think  that it would when it was adopted at the suggestion of the industry. It  was intended as a stop gap measure until 571.208, S5.3 was implemented . This latter regulation involved actual rollover testing, something which has never been required of vehicle manufacturers.

   Rule 571.216 doesn't work because the test load is too low, it allows too  much deformation and perhaps for other technical reasons regarding the method of load application. It was adopted from an industry suggestion that was known to be inadequate..

For the history of this standard see: http://www.peoplesafeinrollovers.org/

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