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October 27, 1999 10:16 AM, EDT

TAMPA, Fla. — It could be a RIG or it could be a RUG, but the difference appears to be a minor issue compared with an ongoing debate over how it should be maintained.

	Michael James - Transport Topics
	TMC is poised to vote on maintenance requirements for impact guards that are out of shape.

Repair techniques for keeping rear impact guards — RIGs — compliant with regulations administered by the Office of Motor Carrier and Highway Safety were discussed at an Oct. 14 session of The Maintenance Council’s four-day fall meeting. The guards — sometimes called rear underride guards or RUGs — are the subject of a proposed recommended practice from the council, an affiliate of American Trucking Associations ("TMC Readies Recommendation on Impact Guards," 9-27, p. 22).

While the recommended practice was pronounced ready for a vote by the membership, Larry Strawhorn, ATA’s vice president of engineering, warned council members that the Truck Trailer Manufacturers Association has so far withheld its endorsement.

Regulations spelling out the dimensions for RIGs — bumpers on the backs of trailers that prevent smaller vehicles from going under the trailer in a rear-end collision — were adopted Oct. 1 by the OMCHS.

For the full story, see the Oct. 25 print edition of Transport Topics. .