New Rollover Safety Rules on Hold

New Federal mandates for greater roof strengthening efforts on the part of auto manufacturers have been put at a standstill by safety advocates who claim that the proposed rules are as weak as the roofs that some vehicles currently have. The rules would go into effect by 2010 at the earliest but manufacturers claim that isn't enough time for them to comply fully.

These are the proposed rules:

Would extend strength rules to all vehicles under 10,000 pounds; currently only vehicles up to 6,000 pounds are covered.

Would require that a vehicle roof withstand a force equal to 2.5 times the vehicle weight while maintaining sufficient head room for a buckled-in average size adult male to avoid being struck -- up from the current 1.5 times.

Rewrites testing procedures.

Prevents people from filing lawsuits under state laws as long as vehicles met federal standards.

Read "Carmakers stall roof rules" @ The Detroit News

I realize my rollover was slow, but I was still very impressed at how well my little Sunfire maintained my survival space. The passenger side came in a bit more, but I still think a passenger would have been OK (I didn't have one at the time).

A car so strong, it broke the automobile crush device and finally succumbed to one used to test truck frames - Aurora.

The worst seem to be full-size pickups..so weak that they can't support their own bloated weight on the roof..

And while that's true, if you drive pickups and SUVs how you're supposed to, you'll never rollover. Its the people (sorry, but women) who think an Explorer is their ZX2, but, like, totally taller and junk.