U.S. NTSB chair raises safety concerns about heavy electric vehicles

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON -U.S. Nationwide Transportation Security Board Chair Jennifer Homendy on Wednesday raised considerations concerning the elevated threat of extreme damage and loss of life from heavier electrical automobiles on U.S. roads.

She cited a Normal Motors GMC Hummer EV that weighs over 9,000 kilos, up from about 6,000 kilos for the gasoline model, and the Ford F-150 Lightning EV, which is between 2,000 and three,000 kilos heavier than the non-electric model.

The heavier weight “has a major influence on security for all highway customers,” she mentioned Wednesday in a speech. “We now have to watch out that we aren’t additionally creating unintended penalties: extra loss of life on our roads.“​

GM mentioned “security is on the cornerstone at all the things we do. All GM automobiles are engineered to fulfill or exceed all relevant motorized vehicle security requirements.” Ford didn't instantly remark.

Homendy’s feedback come because the U.S. has seen a pointy rise in visitors deaths because the begin of the COVID-19 pandemic and U.S. automobiles get maintain getting bigger on common.

The Environmental Safety Company mentioned final month common new car weight and horsepower each hit new information in 2021 with common car weight hitting 4,289 kilos in 2021 as SUV and truck gross sales rise and each are forecast to hit new information in 2022.

U.S. visitors deaths jumped 10.5% in 2021 to 42,915, the most important quantity killed on American roads in a yr since 2005, after rising 7% in 2020, and declined barely within the first 9 months of 2022 however stay excessive.

Performing NHTSA Administrator Ann Carlson instructed reporters Monday that the company was finding out the influence of auto dimension on roadway security. Carlson mentioned the company was “very involved” concerning the “diploma to which heavier automobiles contribute to larger fatality charges.”

She famous that some subscribe to the “mantra that greater is safer” however that didn't essentially have in mind different components.

“Larger is safer should you don’t have a look at the communities surrounding you and also you don’t have a look at the opposite automobiles on the highway,” Carlson mentioned. “It truly seems to be a really advanced interplay.”