FMCSA recently denied a request from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety to correct the agency’s review of side underride guards.
On Thursday, April 17, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration posted its response letter to IIHS President David Harkey, who requested in December 2024 that the agency withdraw its own report and replace it with the Volpe Center’s analysis of how tractor-trailer side guards and skirts could reduce fatalities of pedestrians and cyclists.
“FMCSA has determined that no correction is necessary under the Information Quality Act,” the agency wrote.
FMCSA review and IIHS request
Underride crashes most commonly occur when a car slides underneath a tractor-trailer. Regulations already require rear underride guards, but truck safety groups have long advocated for a side underride guard mandate.
In May 2020, FMCSA published a review of how lateral protection devices on tractor-trailers are intended to reduce pedestrian and cyclist fatalities.
In that report, the agency suggested that lateral protection devices may be relevant to about 0.3% of all pedestrian fatalities and 1.4% of all pedalcyclist fatalities in the U.S. each year. The review also revealed limited effectiveness rates for collisions between large trucks and vulnerable road users. It was estimated that lateral protection devices would mitigate serious injury for bicyclists between 3% and 9% of the time and 0% of the time for pedestrians.
IIHS criticized FMCSA for omitting a cost-benefit analysis from the Volpe Center, which estimated that side guards or skirts could prevent about 100 bicyclist and pedestrian deaths each year. The Insurance Institute called DOT’s findings on the effectiveness of side underride guards “fundamentally flawed.”
“The Volpe Report only bolsters our beliefs,” IIHS wrote in December 2024. “Accordingly, we request that the FMCSA report be withdrawn and replaced with the Volpe report.”
FMCSA denial
The agency said that Volpe’s cost-benefit analysis was not included in its report because it was flawed.
“The cost-benefit analysis included in the Volpe report was flawed because it overestimated the target population without detailing the source of the estimate, overestimated the effectiveness of lateral protection devices in various crash scenarios and underestimated the cost of LPDs, installation and maintenance cost and additional fuel cost due to the added weight of LPDs,” the agency wrote.
Divisive issue
FMCSA’s rejection letter is the latest chapter in the divisive issue of whether side underride guards should be mandated.
In 2023, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued an advance notice of proposed rulemaking that considered requiring side guards on trailers. Although safety groups have long advocated for the requirement, the preliminary research provided by NHTSA indicated that the annual cost of the mandate would be as much $1.2 billion, while saving fewer than 20 lives each year.
Congress launched the creation of an Advisory Committee on Underride Protection to provide recommendations on how to reduce the number of underride crashes. However, the committee was never able to find common ground.
In July 2024, the committee submitted a 410-page report that consists of recommendations from the majority of members and dissent from those in the minority.
The majority report called for a side underride guard mandate on all semitrailers and single-unit trucks. The minority report suggested that additional investigation is needed and that research should be conducted regarding potential unforeseen consequences resulting from a side underride mandate. LL
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