Roof Strength and Injury Risk in Rollover Crashes

Abstract

The FMVSS 216 measure of roof strength related strongly to occupant protection in real-world rollover crashes in this study, which restricted analysis to vehicles with reasonably homogeneous driver and usage characteristics and accounted for state variation in injury rates. Further research should determine whether these results generalize to other vehicle types with different drivers and rollover risk. Research should also focus on factors other than roof strength, because even large increases in roof strength would leave many rollover crash deaths unaffected.