NTSB seeks new seat belt requirements for limos
ALBANY, N.Y. » Federal inspectors recommended stricter regulations Wednesday for safety belts and passenger seats in new vehicles stretched into limousines, saying tighter standards might have made a difference in an upstate New York limousine crash that killed 20 people.
The National Transportation Safety Board released the recommendations almost a year after a Ford Excursion SUV that had been modified into a stretch limo blew through a Tintersection in rural Schoharie and slammed into an earthen embankment. The crash near a popular country store on Oct. 6, 2018, killed the driver, 17 passengers on a birthday outing and two pedestrians.
It was the deadliest transportation disaster in the United States in about a decade.
The agency recommended lapshoulder belts in all seating positions and that limousine seating systems meet minimum crash safety performance standards. The recommendations would apply only to new vehicles stretched into limousines, not to existing limousines, the NTSB said. The agency also cited limousine crashes in Illinois and New Jersey in making the national recommendations.
In the New York crash, the NTSB found some seats separated from their anchorage points in the significantly modified vehicle, which included sidefacing seats. None of the 17 passengers appeared to be wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash, the board said, but the poorly designed belts “would not have provided adequate protection” anyway. The driver was wearing his lap and shoulder belt and his air bag deployed, but the NTSB determined the front-end crash was not survivable from the driver’s seat.
The report said that “injuries to occupants within the passenger compartment might have been mitigated by a combination of adequate seat integrity, well-designed passenger lap/ shoulder belts and proper seat belt use.” The vehicle was manufactured as an 8,600-pound SUV and was modified into a limousine weighing more than 13,000 pounds , according to the report. Once modified, the limousine was not subject to some occupant safety standards that apply to other classes of vehicles.