Semi-Trailer Rear Impact Guard

The Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) received a petition dated August 18, 2022, requesting an investigation of collisions of passenger vehicles and vulnerable road users (pedestrians, bicyclists, or motorcyclists) with van-type (also known as box) semi-trailers that result in significant injuries or death due to a lack of effective rear impact guards (RIGs). No specific trailer manufacturer or equipment supplier was identified. The petition itself can be viewed at https://www.nhtsa.gov/recalls?nhtsaId=11481272. The petition acknowledges that the issues presented may be addressed by the actions the agency is taking pursuant to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL). The petitioners cite crashes exemplifying their concerns, including those in NHTSA’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), stating that there are “hundreds of underride deaths and serious injuries annually from collisions with semitrailers.” Petitioners observe that from 1994 to 2015, FARS reports 1,803 rear underride deaths, and further assert that FARS is “known to underreport these deaths.” This data, according to petitioners, "indicate[s] that semitrailers without effective [RIGs] contain a defect that presents an unreasonable risk.” Petitioners also submitted to NHTSA, between January 30 and May 15, 2023, various materials—the vast majority of which were over 200 news articles pertaining to fatal incidents involving a heavy truck. NHTSA reviewed these materials. Of the news articles, over a third regarded the same crash event, or regarded a non-crash event. Through extensive additional research, ODI determined that twenty-two of the events involved van-type (or “box”) semitrailers. Of those twenty-two events, ODI was able to identify the trailer manufacturer in nine; however, none of the model years could be determined. There were no crash reports of vulnerable road user fatalities or injuries included in the materials received from the petitioners. Approximately one month before submissio