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In The News

Every day the ARC Network updates the web site with valuable, important industry news. Following are a few articles from last month.

 

Jury Finds for Ford in Sudden Acceleration Suit On Friday, February 28, a Sacramento County jury returned a verdict in favor of Ford Motor Company, finding that a 1989 Ford Taurus had no defect in the design of its cruise control system, door latch and seat belt, as claimed by Carolyn Watts. The jury returned its verdict in less than two hours after an eight-week trial. The accident happened on September 6, 1998, when plaintiff Carolyn Watts intended to back out of a driveway in her 1989 Ford Taurus. Watts claimed she was seat belted with her door closed, and the car "just took off" when she shifted into reverse. The car accelerated out of the driveway, across the street and into a house. Watts was found partially outside the open driver's door with her seat belt unbuckled. She sustained severe injuries to her left leg, requiring multiple surgeries and incurring $330,000 in medical expenses. Her damages experts claimed nearly $1 million for her costs of future care. Plaintiffs' counsel asked the jury to award $4.5 million in compensatory damages to Philemon and Carolyn Watts. Read the full article

Select Ford Vehicles Now Supported in Vetronix's New Crash Data Retrieval Software Three years after Vetronix's groundbreaking introduction of the Crash Data Retrieval system, vehicle coverage has expanded to include select 2001 and later-model-year Ford vehicles. Vetronix Corporation develops and manufactures the Crash Data Retrieval (CDR) system used by law enforcement, accident reconstructionists, the insurance industry, vehicle manufacturers and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to download and display recorded crash data from vehicles involved in a collision. The first version of the CDR system was developed in cooperation with General Motors and contained software capabilities for General Motors vehicles only. This latest software release, developed in cooperation with Ford Motor Company, allows the CDR system to communicate with most of Ford's advanced Personal Safety System equipped vehicles -- those of greatest interest to safety researchers. Future releases are expected to expand coverage to additional 2001 and later-model-year Ford products. In the event of an accident, data may be recorded on the vehicle's air bag module. The CDR system collects that information, interprets relevant portions, and presents it in easy-to-understand graphs and tables. By allowing real-world vehicle crash data collection from their vehicles, GM and Ford continue to demonstrate their support for automotive safety design research. Read the full article

Do Crash Test Standards Need to be Re-Evaluated? Discussion on Whether Current Test Methods Widen Disparity Between Large and Small Vehicles Planned at SAE 2003 World Congress Fixed-barrier frontal crash tests, such as those used by the federal government and an insurance industry- sponsored organization, may need to be re-evaluated because they could be making large and small vehicles less compatible in crashes. Attendees at the Society of Automotive Engineers' hallmark event will have a chance to hear a presentation from engineers who will present this case. In a technical paper to be presented during the SAE 2003 World Congress (March 3 - 6, Cobo Center, Detroit, Michigan, USA) authors Mukul Verma, Principle Engineer, Robert Lange, Executive Director of Safety Structure and Integration and Joseph Lavelle, Senior Engineer of General Motors will discuss whether crash test regulations as well as non-regulatory procedures need to be revisited. Their research shows that fixed-barrier tests (in which a vehicle is crashed into a stationary object such as a wall) have led to larger vehicles with stiffer, or stronger, front ends with higher force levels. While these vehicles score higher on the tests, the tests themselves may have the unintended effect of widening the disparity between large and small vehicles. "In researching the subject, we considered various vehicle characteristics and the potential to address the balance of self- and partner-protection in a fleet of large and small vehicles," said Lange. As one of the influencing factors, they examined the effects of certain vehicle level test conditions on vehicle structure and collision compatibility. The authors will discuss whether these test procedures could be revisited to perhaps bring more real- world relevance to the tests and to improve collision compatibility. Read the full article

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