Vehicle Safety News

Salt Lake Tribune, "Fatal 15 Passenger Van Rollover Crash and Tire Failure"

Federal investigators say the tire failure of the van that crashed Sept. 26, 2005, killing eight Utah State University students and their instructor, has parallels to two 15-passenger van accidents in 2001. In a new report by the two National Transportation Safety investigators who spent a week in Utah last fall, they draw parallels to van accidents in Texas and North Carolina in which the vans' rear tires had tread separation and tire failure.

In those accidents, the safety board determined that underinflation of the tires likely contributed to the tire failure. A total of five died in those earlier accidents. Although the NTSB report provides the facts but no analysis - that will come later - it does indicate that investigators suspect the USU van's tires were not inflated as they should have been. In the weeks after the accident that wiped out much of the freshman class in USU's Agriculture Technology Program, the Utah Highway Patrol and an investigator for the state's Risk Management Division identified tread separation on the left rear tire as the cause of the accident.  They differed, however, on the speed of the van at the time of the tire failure. While the UHP contended the van was traveling 95 mph to 100 mph, the investigator for risk management said the van was likely going no more than 85 mph.