CONSUMERS UNION APPLAUDS NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES REPORT
ON ROLLOVER RATINGS

YONKERS, NY--Consumers Union applauds the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) report released today on vehicle rollover ratings and its acknowledgement of the role that dynamic tests should play in measuring vehicle stability.

"Consumers will be the big winners when the government carries out the recommendations made in this report. To help consumers make the safest, most-informed car-buying decisions, the National Academy of Sciences recommended that dynamic on-road testing of vehicles is a much needed addition to the Static Stability Factor (SSF) currently used by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to evaluate rollover propensity," says R. David Pittle, Senior Vice-President for Technical Policy at Consumers Union.

"The report confirms what CU has been saying for years about the importance of on-road tests to assess vehicle performance and stability. We urge NHTSA to stay on track and complete the development of these tests by the congressionally mandated deadline of November 2002," Pittle said.

Consumers Union's primary concern about NHTSA's use of SSF as the only criteria for evaluating a vehicle's rollover propensity has always been that one cannot learn how a vehicle will act in an emergency situation by simply measuring its shape at rest. CU has always believed that the proper focus should be on the vehicle's performance when it is driven to its handling limits, and when the whole vehicle is acting as a complete dynamic system.

"We are especially pleased that the NAS recognized the value of dynamic on-road tests and concluded that they could not identify any insurmountable engineering barriers to the development of a representative dynamic test (or tests) that would differentiate meaningfully among vehicles. This is an independent assessment that the development of dynamic tests is feasible and therefore should put any further doubts to rest," says Sally Greenberg, Senior Product Safety Counsel for Consumers Union.

In 1996 CU petitioned NHTSA to develop a consumer information program that provided consumers comparative data on the rollover risks of SUVs based on dynamic testing-that is, a program based on actual driving tests. NHTSA granted CU's petition. However, CU was disappointed in May 2000 when it learned that NHTSA had abandoned its plans for dynamic testing in favor of a static formula such as SSF.

Last year, Congress passed an auto safety law called the TREAD Act (Transportation Recall Enhancement, Accountability and Documentation Act). The law directs NHTSA to develop a dynamic test program by November 2002 to evaluate rollover risks, the results to be used as the basis for a new consumer information program.

CU has been in the forefront of testing vehicles for routine handling and emergency handling, as well as braking, acceleration, fuel economy, comfort and convenience. The test results appear in Consumer Reports and other CU publications.

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Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports magazine, is an independent nonprofit testing, educational and information organization serving only the consumer. We are a comprehensive source of unbiased advice about products and services, personal finance, health, nutrition and other consumer concerns. Since 1936, our mission has been to test products, inform the public and protect consumers.