Sponsors (10)
Introduced February 4, 2026 by Kirsten Gillibrand · Last progress February 4, 2026
The bill would substantially increase underride safety and produce clearer, data‑driven rulemaking—reducing deaths and injuries—but does so at the cost of significant compliance and government implementation expenses, with disproportionate short‑term burdens on small carriers and potential procedural delays.
Passengers, drivers, pedestrians, bicyclists, and other Vulnerable Road Users would face fewer fatal and severe underride crashes because the bill mandates definitions and standards that enable front, rear, and side underride protection and an intrusion-prevention standard (40 mph).
Manufacturers, motor carriers, and regulators get clearer federal definitions and predictable regulatory timelines (18-month rulemaking, 2-year compliance, 5-year review), reducing legal ambiguity and accelerating implementation of underride safety standards.
Policymakers, researchers, and the public receive better data, consolidated research, GAO review, and more frequent reporting (annual reports, website, law‑enforcement training) to inform stronger, data-driven rulemaking and investments in underride safety.
Truck and trailer manufacturers, motor carriers, and fleet owners would face significant compliance and retrofit costs to meet new guard standards, and those costs are likely to be passed on to consumers through higher shipping prices.
Small trucking businesses and small manufacturers may bear disproportionate upfront compliance and retrofit expenses (and potential downtime), risking reduced competition, market consolidation, or business closures in the short term.
Required studies, GAO reviews, advisory work, and additional rulemaking steps could delay concrete regulatory changes and immediate safety improvements while agencies complete analyses and reports.
Based on analysis of 9 sections of legislative text.
Requires the Department of Transportation to issue mandatory safety standards requiring side underride guards on new trailers, semitrailers, and single‑unit trucks, with a firm rulemaking and compliance timetable and technical performance requirements. Directs DOT and NHTSA to reconvene and expand the underride advisory committee, run studies and data reviews on front, rear, and side underride crashes, create a public underride resource website, and improve crash reporting and law enforcement training.