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Automakers Pledge Full Support in NHTSA Study of Trunk Releases

13 August 1998

Automakers Pledge Full Support in NHTSA Study of Trunk Releases; AAMA Urges Prompt Completion of Study

    WASHINGTON, Aug. 12 -- The American Automobile Manufacturers
Association (AAMA) and its member companies today pledged their full support
and cooperation in a Federal government safety study of inside trunk release
devices.  The devices could provide a means of escape for persons trapped
inside the trunk of a passenger car.
    The Department of Transportation (DOT) is required by recent Federal
legislation to complete a study of the benefits of a regulation requiring
inside trunk releases by the end of 1999.  The study will be conducted by the
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), an agency within DOT.
    In a letter to DOT Secretary Rodney E. Slater, AAMA President & CEO Andrew
H. Card, Jr., said automakers will provide information that would be useful
for the study as quickly as possible.  And he urged Secretary Slater to
expedite the study by NHTSA.  "AAMA hopes that the early submission of data
from our member companies and others will result in the agency completing the
study well before the mandated requirement of December 1999," Card wrote to
Slater.
    NHTSA has considered inside trunk release devices in the past and decided
against a requirement that the devices be installed in all new vehicles.  Card
said it is appropriate for the government safety agency to revisit the issue.
    "Trunk entrapments are very rare events but the consequences can be
tragic," Card said.  "We need to take another look to see if inside trunk
releases can improve overall safety."
    AAMA is the trade association whose members are Chrysler Corporation
, Ford Motor Company , and General Motors Corporation
.  The AAMA site on the World Wide Web can be reached at
http://www.aama.com.