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LSV Crash Tests reveal safety considerations in mixed traffic
Date:
1/25/2013 8:40:17 AM
Category:
Regulatory Issues
A video published on youtube.com on 1/18/2013 depicts Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's "chief research officer" David Zuby talking about crash test results conducted by the IIHS between LSVs and full-size vehicles. The video appears to be a cautionary tale about the safety of LSV owners in frontal and side-impact collisions with larger vehicles.LSVs (low-speed vehicles) are allowed to drive on public roads with posted speed limits of up to 35 mph. The video shows a head-on collision between a 2008 Changan Tiger Star minitruck with a 2010 Ford Ranger, and a Gem E-2 being hit in the side by a 2009 SmartFor2. Neither vehicle fares well in the crash tests, and Zuby remarks that while they meet current federal safety standards for LSVs (headlights, bumpers, 3-point safety belts), they don't have the same safety standards for full-size vehicles, such as crumple zones and airbags.
Tiger Truck's U.S. distributor,Tiger Truck Industries International, states on it's website that its Tiger Star minitruck "is the only Off Road Truck to pass stringent crash tests", while Global Electric Motorcars (now owned by Polaris) notes that "Polaris LSVs comply with the NHTSA Low Speed Vehicles rules and regulations". The IIHS and NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) both conduct crash tests and publish safety data on vehicles, but the NHTSA sets safety standards for vehicles sold in the U.S.
IIHS's Zuby concludes by saying "saving fuel and reducing pollution are important public goals, but we shouldn't sacrifice 40 years of vehicle safety progress to meet them." As LSV sales increase, and more vehicles share the road with larger vehicles, safety standards will more likely than not become more stringent, affecting costs and potentially impacting sales.