The revised roof rule would create "the strongest ever uniform set of minimum ... standards" for automakers in the U.S., Transportation Department spokesman Brian Turmail said.
However, the safety agency is projecting relatively modest benefits from the upgrade: 13 to 44 deaths and 500 to 800 injuries prevented a year. One reason: Nearly 70% of existing vehicles already meet the proposed standard.
Critics call this a token improvement. The stiffest criticism, however, has been reserved for the effort to grant immunity from lawsuits.
The safety agency says its push to preempt personal injury litigation is based on a concern that automakers, fearful of lawsuits, might beef up roofs to such an extent that the vehicles become top-heavy and more prone to roll over.
John G. Womack Jr., a former acting chief counsel at the safety agency, said that equating roof strength with weight was a "very debatable proposition." Other options are to use high-strength steel or widen the stance of vehicles to compensate for heavier roofs, he said.
Diverse groups -- including Public Citizen, a consumer watchdog, and the National Conference of State Legislatures -- have condemned the provision and questioned the highway safety agency's authority to protect automakers.
Some have complained that if companies could not be held liable for damages, it would remove incentives for automakers to exceed minimum safety standards.
A bipartisan group of 26 state attorneys general said in a December letter to the highway safety agency that the lawsuit ban, if accepted by the courts, would shift significant costs of caring for seriously injured victims from the industry to taxpayer-funded programs such as Medicaid. It would also conflict with consumer rights, they said.
"Such an extreme step is unwarranted in the absence of express congressional intent," they wrote.
Roof-crush suits have resulted in costly settlements and verdicts against automakers at a time of widespread financial trouble for the U.S. industry.
In 2004, Ford paid $41 million in a case in which a California appeals court compared the company's use of a fiberglass and metal roof in the 1978 Bronco to "involuntary manslaughter."
The same year, a San Diego jury awarded damages against Ford of $367 million, later reduced by the judge to $150 million. In 2003, GM was hit with a $19.6-million verdict, described as the largest product liability award in Nebraska history. The San Diego and Nebraska cases are being appealed.
