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This paper summarizes the progress that has occurred in Truck Safety with emphasis on the role of technology in reducing accidents and injuries. Opportunities for the future are examined including the potential for advanced collision avoidance techniques, such as electronic braking, object detection and driver awareness/fatigue countermeasures, since accident avoidance (active safety) offers the greatest potential payoff. Advanced occupant protection and crashworthiness issues (passive safety) are also addressed. The role of government in promoting technology and the need for international harmonization of standards is highlighted.

This paper derives a parametric equation for predicting the fuel economy of on-highway heavy-duty trucks. The accuracy of this equation is compared to actual vehicle MPG results. Based on this equation, the relative importance of the numerous parameters which affect the fuel economy of on-highway heavy-duty vehicles are calculated and discussed. To illustrate the value of this methodology, the development of the newest Freightliner EnergySaver package is described and the results from a cross-country fuel economy test of this package are presented. Using these same methods, the future for increasing on-highway heavy-duty truck fuel economy is explored.