Utility Trailer Manufacturing announced that its dry vans, refrigerated vans, and flatbeds produced after 2002 can be retrofitted with Utility’s standard 7-inch-deep horizontal rear underride guard.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has proposed to include the rear impact (underride) guard on the list of items to be examined during the required annual inspection for each commercial motor vehicle.
A $42 million verdict in a tragic crash has brought attention to the question of whether trailers should have side underride guards. We explore this question in this Trailer Talk.
A House appropriations bill for transportation and other departments takes aim at Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration rules regarding hours of service, meal and rest breaks, the CSA safety accountability program, and underride guards.
Reintroduced bipartisan legislation to mandate underride guards on large commercial trucks was met with opposition from the trucking industry, with both ATA and the OOIDA voicing their objections to the proposed rule.
A pipeline contractor in Ohio operates a specialty trailer that is exempt from rear impact guard regulations. Senior Contributing Editor Tom Berg found them parked off a highway.
IIHS has awarded its top underride guard rating to Great Dane, Hyundai Translead, Manac, Stoughton Trailers, Strick Trailers, Utility Trailer Manufacturing, Vanguard National Trailer, and Wabash National, representing 80% of trailers on the road.
Strick Trailers’ GardX rear impact guard received the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s ToughGuard award, passing all three underride tests during certification.
Rear impact guards, or RIGs, should have a label attesting to its compliance with federal regulations. But in a recent CVSA inspection blitz, they were the source of several headaches.
The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance is instituting a new inspection event to gather data on trailer underride guards as part of an effort to analyze rear impact safety requirements for commercial vehicles.