As you look around, you will see that sunroofs in vehicles have become larger — providing passengers with a panoramic view. Unfortunately, the better view afforded by those sunroofs can lead to more injuries when passengers are thrown through the open — or closed — sunroof. As reported in the New York Times, there currently are no government regulations requiring a sunroof (open or closed) to keep a passenger inside the vehicle during a crash. The Times noted that Ford won a court case 12 years ago in which a young woman was thrown through her closed sunroof and paralyzed — and they won because of the lack of regulation. Today, we are still without regulations concerning sunroofs.
Sunroofs are now more popular — 44% of 2017 vehicles sold in the U.S. had sunroofs. While the Times notes that crash data is lacking, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) did report that approximately 300 people were killed and 1,400 injured when thrown from open or closed sunroofs (1997-2008). Auto makers have been working to make sunroofs safer using “laminated safety glass” or working on means of preventing passenger ejections. But the Center for Auto Safety notes that the danger of being thrown through a larger sunroof needs to be examined. One of the issues noted in the article is the fact that people assume they won’t be ejected through a closed sunroof.
In 2011, the NHTSA did consider regulating sunroof safety but they ultimately did not, admitting at the time that they didn’t have a means to measure sunroof safety.” According to the Times, that may have changed, which is giving advocates hope that sunroof regulations will soon be a reality.
