GM Opens innovative new rollover crash testing facility, hopes to save lives

Many vehicles will be put to death for the sake of saving an even higher number of lives at GM's new rollover crash testing facility. New cars, trucks and crossovers will be inevitably flung through the air at various angles as they participate in a number of tests designed to study the science behind the rollover collision- a venture that has the ultimate goal of saving lives.

(Photo: General Motors)

Through the testing, General Motors hopes to develop new sensors for airbags that will help to protect occupants and prevent them from being ejected from the vehicle. The choice to conduct the testing in-house was a simple decision in terms of cost effectiveness and efficiency.

Though rollover accidents are rare, they claim 40 percent of fatalities on American Roads, says the NHTSA.

"We've been working on understanding rollover crashes for many years and our commitment to making StabiliTrak electronic stability control standard on our cars and trucks is a big part of that,'' GM Vice President of Energy and Environment Beth Lowery says.

(Photo: General Motors)

The NHTSA also estimates that 80 percent of single-vehicle rollover accidents could be prevented if all vehicles on the road were equipped with stability control systems.

Lowery also announced that by 2012, all new GM retail-delivered cars will be equipped with rollover-triggered curtain airbags which stay inflated for a few seconds, as opposed to just milliseconds with other accidents.