U.S. Alerts Public to Guardrails That Plaintiffs Say Turn Into Spears on Impact.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-12-26/guardrail-flaw-reports-sought-by-u-s-as-trinity-scrutiny-grows.html

A U.S. highway regulator opened an Internet portal this week allowing the public to report accidents tied to a Trinity Industries Inc. (TRN) guardrail system, which has been linked by lawsuits to at least eight deaths.

The Federal Highway Administration’s move is the latest sign of intensifying government scrutiny of Trinity and its shock-absorbing guardrail end-terminal, the ET-Plus. Drivers and their families have claimed that the system can seize up on impact, spearing cars instead of giving way as intended.

Earlier this month, the highway agency told U.S. lawmakers it would consider mandating additional crash tests on the system if it finds the current round, which started Dec. 10, isn’t sufficient. One of those lawmakers, Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, said he plans to press Trinity in the new year for accountability over undocumented changes it may have made to the ET-Plus.

Blumenthal, a Democrat, has joined the FHWA in asking whether Dallas-based Trinity quietly adjusted the dimensions of its system. Such a revision would represent the third version of the end-terminal since Trinity introduced it in 2000. The company admitted once already to changing the ET-Plus in 2005 and not telling the agency. It has denied allegations in lawsuits that the modified, second version poses an unnecessary danger to crashing cars by locking up when hit.

New Tests

In November, the FHWA approved Trinity’s plan for running new crash tests on the ET-Plus system, as requested by the agency. Those tests are due to be completed in January.

Blumenthal and other lawmakers have criticized the tests, saying they aren’t rigorous enough to fully vet the product’s safety. Blumenthal -- chairman of the Senate’s Subcommittee on Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine Infrastructure, Safety, and Security -- said he will continue to push the FHWA to require more testing, including of any would-be third version.

The regulator, a unit of the U.S. Department of Transportation, said in a Dec. 9 e-mail to lawmakers that it may order additional tests if it decides the ET-Plus has vulnerabilities beyond the current review.

Steel Device

The ET-Plus system includes a steel device with an internal slot that fits around the end of a guardrail. When hit by an out-of-control vehicle, the unit pushes back along the W-shaped guardrail and forces it through the narrow slot -- a flattening process that absorbs some of the crashing car’s energy. The design is meant to bring the car to a safer stop than if it had run into a guardrail’s naked end.

The 2005 changes to the system that Harman discovered shrunk some of the device’s dimensions. Those modifications made it more likely the guardrail would get stuck instead of moving through the slot, Harman alleged in his lawsuit.

Following the latest assertions that Trinity began making a third version to address that issue, the manufacturer has said in e-mailed statements that it never changed the steel component that moves along the guardrail and flattens it during a crash.

Sicking and Harman have asserted that Trinity changed a dimension in a different component -- increasing the height of a rectangular piece called the guide channel -- which feeds the guardrail into the slot.

Previous Statement

When asked if the company had increased the guide channel’s height, Eller, the Trinity spokesman, referred to a previous statement saying the company has disclosed to the FHWA all modifications to the ET-Plus system since 2005.

The highway agency has said that previous reviews of crash test results, national accident data and survey responses from state transportation departments didn’t reveal performance problems with the ET-Plus. It is still reviewing information, including concerns flagged by Missouri and data provided by Harman on 231 crashes involving the system, the FHWA said.

When asked about the possible third version in November, the agency said it was aware of the claims. It said that its engineers were measuring Trinity systems on the nation’s highways to help determine if their dimensions fell “beyond the production tolerance.”

That information is due in January, the regulator has said.

A Trinity Industries ET-Plus end terminal off U.S. Route 70 in southeastern Arizona.