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Rear underride crashes kill thousands of people yearly worldwide. Underride guards did not follow the progress achieved by the automotive safety technology. Searching for solutions to this problem, two new guards have been designed and three crash tests carried out. A new articulated, an energy absorbing conceptual guard and a guard constructed according to the European (ECE-R58) regulation were tested. Both the new guards could avoid underride, the ECE-R58 one could not. The tests pointed out that the new articulated guard could be used after a few modifications and the conceptual one needs further optimization to become commercially feasible.

The mechanical principle of a simple pliers tool was applied to design a new energy absorbing rear underride guard. The guard, consisting of a hanging steel frame held by a steel cables net, could avoid underride of a GM Vectra at 64 km/h colliding in 50% offset. Injury criteria measured at Hybrid 3 dummies showed a low crash severity (HIV = 381). The guard needs, however, further optimization to become commercially feasible.

Rear underride crashes are responsible for thousands of deaths every year in Brazil. To support the fight against this calamity, it was design and tested an articulated guard able to avoid car underride. Because of its articulation capability, this guard can be placed as low as necessary without impairing the truck maneuverability. Crash tests were carried out with the new guard and with another one constructed according to Brazilian standards. The articulated guard was able to avoid underride of a vehicle GM Corsa colliding at 50 km/h in offset of 50%. The other guard could not avoid underride under the same test conditions.