AAA Survey: Parents Responding Postively to Car Seat Compliance

Kevin Jones
Technical Analyst
MSC

According to a new survey by AAA, outreach efforts to educate parents of children under age 13 regarding child safety seat use have yielded positive results. Nearly a year ago, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) updated its recommendations regarding the use of rearward-facing seats for children over the age of one, recommending that children remain in rearward-facing car seats until age two—or until the child exceeds the height and weight limits of the child seat. Read our earlier blog post, "New Child Seat Recommendations from the AAP and NHTSA" to learn more.

AAA found that over 90% of the parents with children under age 13 heard of the new guidelines by the AAP. Several parents heard of these guidelines from their child’s pediatrician. AAA also found that one in three of the parents surveyed changed how they allowed their child to travel in the vehicles.

Seventy-seven percent of parents with children younger than age two who did not make any changes based on the AAP’s recommendations reported that they were already meeting or exceeding these guidelines. However, there were other parents who were allowing their children to graduate to bigger seats or seatbelt use prematurely for reasons such as discomfort.

AAA’s article, "AAA Survey Reveals 'Boost' in Car Seat Compliance," reinforces the need for parents to follow the guidelines set forth by the AAP in order to help reduce serious injuries and death among children in automobile crashes. The article can be found in AAA's "Newsroom."

Bendix ABS Research by Ben Smith Forthcoming at SAE 2012 World Congress

Kelly Messerschmidt
Technical Communications Manager
MSC

Messerschmidt Safety Consultants (MSC) is proud to announce that Benjamin Smith, in conjunction with Timothy Austin of the Wisconsin State Patrol and Mike Farrell of Fox Valley Technical College, will have their most recent research published at the upcoming Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) 2012 World Congress in Detroit, Michigan, April 24-26.

Their technical paper, “An Examination of Diagnostic Event Data in Bendix Antilock Brake System Electronic Control Units,” will be presented during the Event Data Recorders (EDR) section of the Occupant Protection session.

The paper pertains to the function and accuracy of the Bendix EC-60 and EC-30 ABS controllers in real-world crash scenarios. In particular, the study focuses on the diagnostic event recording and reporting functions within the electronic controllers of Bendix ABS systems.

This research is unique, as it is the first time that Bendix ABS systems have been formally explored as a source of crash event data in the investigations of motor vehicle crashes. The underlying research for this paper was conducted in the spring of last year on late-model Volvo and International commercial vehicles in Appleton, Wisconsin.

National Sleep Foundation 2012 Poll: Transportation Professionals' Sleep Habits, Work Performance

Kelly Messerschmidt
Technical Communications Manager
MSC

National Sleep Awareness Week is currently being observed in the US (March 5-11, 2012). According to the National Sleep Foundation 2012 poll--the first to ask transportation professionals about their sleep habits and work performance--11% of pilots, train operators, and bus/taxi/limo drivers, and 8% of truck drivers are "sleepy." Read the press release.

The poll also found that 14% of truck drivers, and 12% of bus/taxi/limo drivers polled reported having had a "near miss" due to sleepiness. Although individuals' sleep needs vary, most research assumes that normal adults sleep for 7-8 hours per night.

In NHTSA's "Drowsy Driving and Automobile Crashes" report, shift-workers whose sleep is disrupted by working at night, or working long or irregular hours, are categorized as being one of the three population groups at highest risk for "drowsy-driving" crashes. According to the National Sleep Foundation 2012 poll, a significant number of the transportation workers said their schedules do not allow enough time for sleep.

NHTSA Proposes Guidelines Against “Excessively Distracting Devices”

William Messerschmidt
Principal Technical Analyst
MSC

On 02/24/12, the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) proposed new guidelines for auto manufacturers that cover original-equipment, in-vehicle devices that augment or facilitate “secondary tasks” in which visual information is received and a physical action is performed in response to that information.

By “secondary tasks,” NHTSA means actions that we perform while we operate or control the vehicle, which are not part of the primary task (driving), such as entertainment and communication. For example, the timely prompt from your GPS device to “in a half mile, make a right turn,” is considered part of the primary task (driving), but texting a friend your arrival time is a secondary task.

Almost all drivers engage in secondary tasks while driving (such as adjusting climate control, changing radio stations), and often there is very little decrease in their safety. However, as technological advances make more and more options accessible to the driver, the potential exists to build in dangerous devices. For example: your in-dash GPS display isn’t a distraction under most circumstances, but imagine if that same display showed your Facebook News Feed! [Please note that absolutely no manufacturer has ever proposed this extreme example.]

In order to differentiate between the less extreme (and more realistic) examples of safe versus unsafe technology, researchers considered variables such as the type of information displayed, the manner in which it is displayed, and the type of manual response elicited by the information.

The NHTSA guideline describes five types of displays or devices that are always unsafe. They are:

• Photographic or video images not immediately related to driving (images such as blindspot cameras, GPS navigation, and weather information are considered directly related to the driving task);
• Photographic or graphical static visual images that are unrelated to driving (such as album art and personal photos);
  
• Automatically scrolling text;
• Manual text entry of more than six key presses;
• Reading more than 30 characters (not including spaces and punctuation).

You can read a short summary of the new NHTSA Guidelines at Occupational Safety Online, or view the document in its entirety in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, Issue 37.

NHTSA to Use New "10 Year Old Child" Crash Test Dummy

An adult crash test dummy (photo by Ben Smith)

Benjamin Smith
Principal Technical Analyst
MSC of MS

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced last week that they will be using a newly developed "10 year old child" crash test dummy. According to NHTSA, this new crash test dummy was created so that boosters and child safety seats designed for children over 65 pounds could be tested in the most effective manner possible. Read the full press release dated 02/21/12.

The new dummy will allow NHTSA to assess the risk of injuries using head and knee excursions and chest acceleration. The expanded testing capabilities will also allow for the evaluation and certification of higher weight booster seats (designed for children weighing 65-80 pounds), in compliance with recent rule changes issued by NHTSA.

Currently NHTSA recommends that children be seated in a car seat with a harness (up to the specifications of the seat) until they are large enough to fit properly in a seat belt, which they say is generally when the child is between 8-12 years and about 4'9" tall. Read more about properly fitting seat belts for children ages 8-12 years.

Telematics in the Insurance Industry: A Growing Trend

Kevin Jones
Technical Analyst
MSC

Auto insurance rates are calculated using information that helps determine a driver's risk. These risk factors have been based on--but not limited to--age, driving records, past claims, type of vehicle, and so on. However, it is anticipated that this method of determining risk is going to decrease as insurance companies invest in telematics systems, which will provide information on how an individual car is performing on the roadway. In ABI Research's press release on February 10, 2012, ABI Research estimated that global telematics use will rise from 1.85 million in 2010 to 89 million by 2017.

ABI Research reports that these systems have been in existence since 2002, but recently there has been renewed interest in them. The current telematics systems, or usage-based insurance (UBI) systems, are installed using the vehicle's on-board diagnostic (OBD) port. However, ABI predicts that installation of these systems will increase by way of factory or aftermarket wireless connections to the OBD bus via Bluetooth.

Bendix Identifies Possible Defect in Certain Bendix ATR-6 Valves

Kelly Messerschmidt
Technical Communications Manager
MSC

According to a statement released by Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems on February 2, 2012, Bendix notified NHTSA of a potential defect in the Bendix ATR-6 valves that were manufactured between December 02, 2010 and January 18, 2012. Bendix states that the potential defect could occur when vehicles are being operated in extremely cold conditions (at or below 0 degrees Fahrenheit). According to Bendix, approximately 50,000 to 60,000 vehicles are affected.

Bendix is offering a temporary remedy kit free of charge, which is for use until they make the permanent remedy kit available. Visit the “Product Action Center” page on the Bendix website for information and updates about this issue. Questions or comments about this matter can be directed to Bendix representatives at the Bendix ATR-6 Action Line, at 1.800.478.1793, seven days a week, between the hours of 7am-8pm Eastern Time.

Due to the potentially defective valve, Paccar Inc. has recalled those Kenworth and Peterbilt trucks built between January 2011 and January 18, 2012. To learn more about the Paccar recall, read this news article at Truckinginfo.