General Motors will make rollover-enabled airbags standard on all models by 2012, according to the Detroit News. The announcement came as GM demonstrated crash tests at its brand new $10.2 million rollover testing facility in Milford.
While rollovers make up just 3 percent of all accidents, they account for 25 percent of all traffic deaths. Side curtain airbags and other safety devices that activate during rollover promise to significantly reduce fatalities.
At the Milford facility, GM will be able to conduct a number of different tests. The first is the flying floor test, which simulates a vehicle sliding sideways in soil, gravel or into a curb. The second simulates a driver veering off the side of a road onto a steep embankment, leading to a rollover. The third, called the corkscrew ramp flip-over, is also known as the “Dukes of Hazzard” test (pictured).
