ET Plus News

Pickup Goes Airborne After Virginia Tests Trinity Guardrail System

A pickup went airborne while a small car came to an upright stop in two crash tests of a guardrail safety device linked in lawsuits to at least nine deaths. The tests Friday at the Karco Engineering LLC in the …

After Guardrail Review, Highway Regulator Urges Standards Revamp

U.S. highway guardrail systems made by Trinity Industries Inc. and Road Systems Inc. have “safety performance issues” in some real-world crash scenarios, the Federal Highway Administration said as it urged a national overhaul of standards to better protect American drivers. …

Trinity Guardrail to Undergo Further Testing in Virginia

Trinity Industries Inc.’s guardrail system will undergo additional crash testing by Virginia, raising new questions about a device on roadways across the country. Some of Virginia’s six proposed tests on the ET-Plus, scheduled to begin in mid-September, will be different …

Guardrail Fraud Award Grows to $663M to Trinity’s Dismay

Trinity Industries Inc., maker of a highway guardrail safety system tied to at least nine deaths, must pay $663 million for defrauding the U.S. government. The decision by U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap in Marshall, Texas, caps Trinity’s three-year legal …

Trinity Guardrail Review Faulted by Product Safety Institute

A U.S. highway agency’s favorable analysis of Trinity Industries Inc.’s guardrail system was criticized by a nonprofit safety group, which said crash-test data show that motorists remain at risk. The Federal Highway Administration announced March 13 that Trinity’s ET-Plus shock-absorbing …

Trinity Guardrail System Passes First Mandated Crash Tests

Trinity Industries Inc.’s guardrail system, which has come under scrutiny for locking when hit and piercing cars instead of helping them slow, passed the first four of eight government-mandated crash tests, a federal highway agency said. The Federal Highway Administration …

Feds Open Website for Public Reporting of Guardrail Flaws

A U.S. highway regulator opened an Internet portal this week allowing the public to report accidents tied to a Trinity Industries Inc. guardrail system, which has been linked by lawsuits to at least eight deaths. The Federal Highway Administration’s move …

Kansas, Missouri Suspend ET-Plus Guardrail Installations

Missouri and Kansas transportation officials have suspended installations of a guardrail system over concerns about its safety. Critics of the ET-Plus guardrail systems contend its design allows sections of metal to break off and run through vehicles that collide with …

Kentucky Looking Into Faulty Guardrails

State officials are planning an evaluation of potentially faulty guardrail heads on Kentucky roads and highways. Transportation Secretary Mike Hancock told lawmakers during a committee meeting last week that he believes hundreds of ET-Plus guardrail component are in use, but …

Highway Official Stood By Guardrail System Even as Doubt Mounted

U.S. highway safety officials defended a widely used guardrail system’s crashworthiness even as they worried whether its design had been altered in a potentially deadly way, according to internal e-mails. Starting in 2012, a Federal Highway Administration engineer fielded e-mails …