It’s the stuff you can make into a nightmare. You’re tooling down the highway, approaching a curve. What you don’t know is that the road ahead of you is sheeted with invisible black ice. Your rig hits the ice, and your hope of control is down the drain. As your rig slides off the roadway, you see a steep embankment coming right up. It’s a long drop to the bottom. What prevents you from a fateful meetup? A humble highway guardrail. But a recent dramatic test shows that the typical highway guardrails probably won’t stop a modern electric vehicle. What about your RV?
Highway guardrails installed “when consequences … would be less severe”
Highway guardrails aren’t just for steep embankments or areas where leaving the roadway might make for a long drop. They’re often found in those situations, but they cover much more ground. When there’s something that can’t be removed but could create serious harm if hit with a vehicle, guardrails are perhaps the first—and last—line of defense. Think bridge piers, retaining walls, utility poles, or even just an area where head-on collisions are common.
The Federal Highway Administration division of the U.S. Department of Transportation says guardrails are installed “when the consequences of striking a guardrail would be less severe than striking the other objects next to the roadway…. They can make roads safer and lessen the severity of crashes. The guardrail can operate to deflect a vehicle back to the roadway, slow the vehicle down to a complete stop, or, in certain circumstances, slow the vehicle down and then let it proceed past the guardrail.”
Something more sinister lead to a crash test
Guardrails have been around since the 1960s, and while their purpose hasn’t changed, traffic that can impact guardrails most certainly has. Every year, 100,000 vehicles run off the road, resulting in thousands of deaths. Many of those crashes involve guardrails that should be reducing the fatality rate.
But add another, more sinister thought. As military planners have seen the growing population of electric vehicles on America’s roadways, they started wondering: What if bad guys wanted to turn EVs into “hostile vehicles”? How would their protection measures, as well as how would guardrails, stand up to EVs? The Army funded researchers from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to investigate the matter.
EVs went straight through, or right under
The results of a crash test performed on a guardrail on October 12, 2023, didn’t provide much reassurance. At 60 mph, a 7,000-plus-pound 2022 Rivian R1T truck tore through a typical highway guardrail barrier. The guardrail didn’t do much to reduce the speed of the pickup. A different test, this one in 2018, pitted a 2018 Tesla Model 3 sedan against a guardrail. The heavy, low-center-of-gravity Tesla simply lifted the guardrail and passed below it, coming to rest behind the barrier.
If you’re wondering about the makeup of the guardrail at the test facility, here are the particulars. It featured a 12-gauge corrugated steel guardrail attached to 6-inch-deep steel posts, anchored to the rail with blockouts 8- to 12-inches thick. The top of the rail was 31 inches above the road. This was a newer Midwest Guardrail System, or MGS, designed to reduce barrier breakthroughs and roll-overs. These are too often seen with many older guardrail systems, found across much of the country.
MGS has been tested with small cars that weigh up to 2,400 pounds and pickups that weigh 5,000 pounds. Up until now, little has been known about how the system would perform in crashes involving EVs. The “wonder what” issue is that EVs typically weigh 20% to 50% more than gas-powered vehicles, and they have lower centers of gravity. The University’s research suggests EVs are involved in run-off-road crashes at about the same rate and about the same speeds as gasoline vehicles. That would mean an EV crashing into a roadside barrier could have 20% to 50% more impact energy.
Not a snowball’s chance
As evidenced by the photos alone, even the most modern, higher-impact-resistant guardrail system doesn’t stand a snowball’s chance of “deflecting a vehicle back to the roadway or slowing a vehicle down to a complete stop” when it comes to an EV. How about with your Class A or even Class C motorhome? While we don’t have enough data available to point to “low center of gravity” issues, the typical loaded motorhome is going to scale in at more than the 7,000-pound Rivian test truck used in this scenario.
As much as some may find the idea of electric vehicles taking over the highways unsavory, they may, in an unexpected way, benefit the RVing community. How so? “It is going to be necessary to reexamine the designs of roadside barriers even beyond the EVs,” said one of the University’s researchers. “It’s a critical and timely need.” Yes, more research could yield highway guardrail systems that could save RVers’ lives.
More issues than just the guardrail itself
In the meantime, existing guardrail systems around the country will hopefully do their job. But even that is a questionable issue. In 2011, the federal government updated safety guidelines for guardrail testing, adding more stringent testing aspects. But the states could still buy and install guardrails that only met the old standards. How many miles of the weaker-sister guardrails are on American roads is anyone’s guess.
Guardrail installation and maintenance is another problem. There are no standards for what training is required for guardrail installation. A Federal Highway Administration survey found that guardrail installation crews often struggled when installing X-LITE end terminals. Those terminals are put on the end of guardrails and are designed to absorb collision impact. They are also supposed to prevent the guardrail from becoming an oversized chicken skewer. But because the instructions on proper placement and installation were unclear, some simply weren’t installed correctly. This created a serious hazard on the road when accidents occurred.
In many fatal guardrail collisions, the guardrail was not designed or installed at a proper height. That’s a critical matter, one that can mean life or death. For RVers, guardrails that are not built high enough could allow your rig to jump over them. Guardrails built too high can create too much space beneath them, allowing motorcyclists to slide underneath.
Too many unknowns
Too many unknown factors can put your life at risk. Federal guardrail standards are based on an average vehicle weight, and impact speeds of 62 miles per hour. So what if your weight is more than the typical sedan? One could surmise your chances are better if you’re traveling less than 62 mph. Getting off the accelerator when coming up on guardrails could be one possibility. But with so many highway guardrails, and often coming up out of the line-of-sight, it’s probably not too practical. Perhaps this is one the trade-offs that comes with the RV lifestyle.
##RVT1144b
Simple physics. Mass and momentum rules. Speed kills.
So drive your overloaded RV like you are in a sports car.
I can’t remember how many times I have been passed by a SUV/truck pulling a trailer or a big class A diesel pusher pulling an enclosed car trailer like I was sitting still when I was going 62 mph. It’s unreal how many people don’t realize the tires on their RV are not speed rated like their sports car. Just because their RV can go that fast does not mean your tires are rated for it, speed ratings are given by a 30 minute test at that speed at that tire load and I’d be willing to bet most are overloaded, like my late wife who had acquired a full set of cast iron skillets in 3 years of yard sales.
Back a couple of decades ago, when I was the General Superintendent of a local County Engineer Department (Highway Dept) in Ohio, it was somewhat of the norm to not refer to guardrail as guardrail but rather as “Guiderail”. I suppose this was probably some groupthink among the Ohio County Engineer’s Association. The term guardrail implied some form of protection and safety; whereas the term guiderail implied none. It was no mystery to us that guardrail was a string of false hopes of safety along the highways.
Very interesting “insider” info, David. Thank you! Have a great day. 😀 –Diane at RVtravel.com
PA also changed the name to guide rail years ago
I’ve personally seen most of the guardrails intact from a crash, damaged to a tee but still standing. I’ve also viewed and read articles after articles of “if it wasn’t for the guardrails”, catastrophic! Some of those have been written and shared on this website. Sure, it’d be nice to have tougher guardrails though the expense, which is always the main factor, is going to deter it. The comparison of a Tesla with an RV or larger not need to be compared. It’s like comparing a .22 to a .45, though still deadly and lethal.
Interesting to hear how much heavier EVs are than normal cars. That would amount to considerably more wear and tear on roadways similar to the impact large trucks have. Wonder if they thought about this…..probably not.
And the fact is that since no gasoline or diesel is used there are no fuel taxes paid to maintain the roads and bridges. The only way to combat that is to charge a tax for miles driven on EV’s upon registration renewal.
One of our vehicles is an EV. Many places, including my state of CO have an EV surcharge fee due when you renew your registration. In my particular case, this charge is more than what I would pay in gas taxes on a similar sized car.
As Warren stated for CO, my state, Alabama charges an extra $200 when I renew my EV registration.
Careful driving is only part of the answer How do you protect against the many idiots out on the road? BTW we’ve found that chewing something keeps you more alert on long drives. We keep sugarless gum, nuts & and carrots in the car
Thank you, Russ and Tina! Well, this is interesting and concerning. Thank you for finding the studies and sharing the results. I may get a bit slower on the roads now; certainly not faster. Safe travels! 🙂
The results don’t surprise me. I’ve always considered guardrails as more of a physiological barrier than a real force to stop my moving RV. This became so true traveling through California two seasons ago when it appears the state that gives billions to people not even legal in this country, is too broke to fix its roads and install any kind of crash deterrence systems through many of their high mountain passes and highways. Would a guardrail stop me in an emergency, no. But seeing something other than a steep mountain drop-off vs a steel horizontal barrier can play games with your mind. First trip to CA, and our Last!
Bye
ND is now using a steel cable system in rural interstate medians due to the numerous loss of control and head-on crashes and people trying to reverse direction by going thru the shallow ditch medians. They seem to be working fairly well. In the city areas, direction lanes are separated by concrete Jersey Barriers. Would be interesting to know the actual number of impacts with the csbles. They are fairly low in height also. There have been a few semi truck crashes into them and they appear – (on Tv) to hold.
Before you rely on articles without numbers do some verification yourself. The curb weight on the mentioned Tesla 3 is 4,057 lbs for the heaviest model, the long range version. My 2020 Equinox has a curb weight of 3,665 lbs and CAT Scaled exactly at 4,000 lbs. Other EVs I checked were maybe 10% heavier than a gas equivalent. There is no way those small weight increases cause all of the problems attributed to them. No, I do not own an EV and have no desire to.
Generally I would agree that the weight difference is a non-factor. I do believe that with EVs however, that the majority of the weight has a very low center of balance in the EV due to battery location and electric motors so the impact displaces the guardrails in an upward trajectory as the car continues on. ICE engine compartment at hypothetical 30 inches height versus EV power at hypothetical 19 inches height.
There has been a lot of concern with the extra weight of all vehicles, especially the EV’s in parking garages. It is especially concerning while placing multiple charging stations in one area. With the ever increasing sales, use, and demand for longer distance between charges of EV’s many garages are placing the charging stations on the ground level. However as the sales and use increase there will more issues with weight distribution in the older garages and also the consideration of fire safety on the structure if one catches on fire. Hummer, Ram 1500 EV battery weight 3,000+/-, my gas toad 2,800 lb.
We’ve never expected the guard rail system to be strong enough to resist our class A going over the edge. This isn’t new. Have you ever seen a match up between a standard 18+ wheeler and a guard rail? Amazing the shapes those rails can stretch into. BTW, the concrete barrier at Wolf Creek Pass held up pretty well to the semi that still went over it a few years ago.
I did not research in detail, yet it seems if an EV or any vehicles is under 5,000 pounds it should not crash through a properly installed and maintained guardrail. Heavier vehicles might not fare as well staying to the inside of a guardrail. Stay awake, alert, and do not drive faster than safe for conditions. Rarely is anything ever absolute but death and taxes or the ability of any guardrail to save your life.
Your details about the “test” guardrail says it was put in 6″ deep. NO. That would not hold a horse, let alone a car. In this area they go down 18-24 inches. Most folks don’t realize most of the larger pickups on the road are already weighing in at 7-8000 lbs. My dually, empty, is 8000! I believe each state does rails a different way, and some are just not thought out. Money over safety?
Truly an interesting article on guardrails. Unfortunately, it fails to address efficacy of concrete barriers found down the center of some otherwise undivided roads. How do those dividers compare with sound barrier walls? I have seen a couple of instances where a hole had been punch through a concrete sound barrier. I am rather sure that the performance of both exceed guard rails.
Personal responsibility has been dead in the USA for many years.
I would think a place to look at is how semi trucks do against the said guardrails, and maybe the state and county were installed. I’m wondering if the installation of guard rail are delegated to the newest member of the “road gang”.