My car went under an 18-wheeler's trailer. Who is responsible?

The most dangerous way to hit a truck

An underride crash happens when a car goes under the back or the side of a trailer instead of striking something designed to stop it. The trailer bed sits at about the height of a car’s windshield. When a car slides under it, the parts of the car built to absorb a crash — the bumper, the hood, the crumple zones — pass beneath the trailer, and the first thing to make contact is the windshield and the roof. Underride crashes are among the most deadly on the road, even at moderate speeds.

Rear underride guards

Federal rules require most trailers and semitrailers built on or after January 26, 1998 with a gross weight rating of 10,000 pounds or more to carry a rear impact guard meeting federal motor vehicle safety standards — the steel bar that hangs below the back of the trailer. The guard has to be there, and it has to be maintained. Guards that are bent, rusted through, or hanging loose from an earlier impact are common, and a guard in that condition may fail at a speed it was built to survive. Whether the guard was present, compliant and maintained is a central question in a rear underride case, and it can make the carrier and sometimes the trailer manufacturer responsible.

Side underride

There is no federal requirement for side underride guards on trailers. Side underride usually happens when a truck pulls across a road — out of a driveway, a plant entrance, or across a highway at night — and a car approaching at speed cannot see the long, dark side of the trailer in time. In those cases the questions are about the driver and the carrier: whether the turn was safe to begin, whether the trailer was lit and marked as the rules require, and whether the driver blocked the road where approaching traffic could not see.

Being seen, and stopping safely

Most large trailers must carry retroreflective conspicuity tape along the sides and rear so that headlights pick them up at night. Missing tape is a violation, and tape too dirty or faded to reflect is evidence the carrier did not maintain the trailer. It matters in a nighttime underride. A truck that is stopped or disabled on the road or the shoulder must turn on its hazard flashers and, within ten minutes, put out warning devices behind it. A truck parked on a dark shoulder without triangles is a very common setup for a rear underride.

Why the evidence matters so much here

In an underride crash, the guard, the tape and the lights are the case. After the crash, a carrier will want to repair or replace the damaged trailer and get it back in service. Once the guard is cut off and replaced, the proof of its condition is gone. A preservation letter and a joint inspection of the trailer, before anyone touches it, are the first things that need to happen.

These crashes are often fatal. When a family member was killed, the claim is a wrongful death case, and the same urgency applies.

Who can be responsible

An underride case often has more than one defendant. The driver may be responsible for stopping or turning where approaching traffic could not see the trailer. The motor carrier is responsible for its driver and for inspecting and maintaining the guard, the lights and the reflective tape. If the trailer was leased or owned by another company, the trailer owner may share responsibility for its condition. A repair shop that worked on the guard may be responsible for bad work. And where a guard was poorly designed or built and failed at a speed it should have withstood, the manufacturer can be liable under Texas products liability law. Each of them may carry its own insurance, which matters in cases where the injuries are this severe.

Authority: 49 CFR 393.86 (rear impact guards) · 49 CFR 392.22 (emergency signals; stopped vehicles) · 49 CFR 393.11 (lamps and reflective devices)