One of the most popular features inside cars today is the use of a sunroof. Unfortunately, a rising number of people hurt in vehicle accidents are reporting that they were thrown through a closed sunroof and suffered catastrophic injuries.
There are currently no government regulations that are meant to prevent the hundreds of sunroof ejection accidents that happen every single year, even as more buyers at car sales lots are requesting the sunroof option. Furthermore, car makers are stretching the size of the glass in vehicles with panoramic and larger sunroofs. Certain automakers have tried to lead the way to make sunroofs safer by using safety glass that is laminated and in the development of gadgets that could help to prevent sunroof ejection accidents.
A new test that was generated by researchers at the National Traffic Highway Safety Administration could mean that the federal government is exploring the opportunity to put together standards over sunroof regulation. Injuries and fatalities are very common and one representative of a consumer group says that this is a solvable problem. Approximately 40% of the 2017 model cars in the United States came with a sunroof. Although crash data regarding sunroof ejection accidents is not up-to-date, it does still bode problems.
Approximately 1,400 people were injured between 1997 and 2008, and a further 300 people were killed when they were thrown out of a sunroof in an ejection accident. Federal regulators are looking to update the data and figure out opportunities to improve the number of sunroof ejection accidents.
SENIOR PERSONAL INJURY ATTORNEY & FIRM FOUNDER
Michael Pines is a former insurance company attorney who graduated from the University of California Hastings College of the Law in 1987. While he was an insurance attorney, he learned from behind the scenes how insurance companies work and how they decide how much to pay injured people. Now that he works against insurance companies, Michael’s inside knowledge has resulted in significant benefits to his clients injured in car accidents. Learn more about Michael Pines