NTSB Safety Recommendation H-09-11 through -13, and H-99-53 and -54 (Reiteration)

[NTSB Press Releases <NTSBPressReleases@xxxxxxxx>]

Title: NTSB Safety Recommendation H-09-11 through -13, and H-99-53 and -54 (Reiteration)

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                   NTSB SAFETY RECOMMENDATION

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National Transportation Safety Board

Washington, DC 20594

September 10, 2009

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NTSB Safety Recommendation H-09-11 through -13, and H-99-53

and -54 (Reiteration)

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The NTSB is reiterating the following safety recommendations

and reclassifying them as –Open- Unacceptable Response:

Require that all school buses and motorcoaches manufactured

after January 1, 2003, be equipped with on-board recording

systems that record vehicle parameters, including, at

minimum, lateral acceleration, longitudinal acceleration,

vertical acceleration, heading, vehicle speed, engine speed,

driver’s seat belt status, braking input, steering input,

gear selection, turn signal status (left/right), brake light

status (on/off), head/tail light status (on/off), passenger

door status (open/closed), emergency door status

(open/closed), hazard light status (on/off), brake system

status (normal/warning), and flashing red light status

(on/off) (school buses only). For those buses so equipped,

the following should also be recorded: status of additional

seat belts, airbag deployment criteria, airbag deployment

time, and airbag deployment energy. The on-board recording

system should record data at a sampling rate that is

sufficient to define vehicle dynamics and should be capable

of preserving data in the event of a vehicle crash or an

electrical power loss. In addition, the on-board recording

system should be mounted to the bus body, not the chassis,

to ensure that the data necessary for defining bus body

motion are recorded. (H-99-53)

Develop and implement, in cooperation with other government

agencies and industry, standards for on-board recording of

bus crash data that address, at a minimum, parameters to be

recorded, data sampling rates, duration of recording,

interface configurations, data storage format, incorporation

of fleet management tools, fluid submersion survivability,

impact shock survivability, crush and penetration

survivability, fire survivability, independent power supply,

and ability to accommodate future requirements and

technological advances. (H-99-54)

The NTSB also makes the following new recommendations to the

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration:

Require the installation of brake transmission shift

interlock systems or equivalent in newly manufactured heavy

vehicles with automatic transmissions and other

transmissions susceptible to unintended acceleration

associated with pedal misapplication when starting from a

parked position. (H-09-11)

Analyze pedal configurations in heavy vehicles, including

innovative designs, to determine the effect of pedal design

on the driving task, examining—among other things—pedal

error, reaction time, driver acceptance, and driver

adaptation. (H-09-12)

Once the analysis of pedal configurations requested in

Safety Recommendation H-09-12 is complete, publish pedal

design guidelines for designers and manufacturers. (H-09-13)

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http://www.ntsb.gov/recs/letters/2009/H09_11_12_13.pdf

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The complete recommendation letter is available on the Web

at the URL indicated above.

The letter is in the Portable Document Format (PDF) and can

be read using the Acrobat Reader 5.0 or later from Adobe

(http://www.adobe.com/prodindex/acrobat/readstep.html).

       

An archive of recommendation letters is available at

http://www.ntsb.gov/recs/letters/letters.htm.

Electronic versions of letters may or may not include

enclosures; however, related publications, accident

briefs, and aviation accident synopses may be found

on the NTSB website.

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