Side Underride Verdicts Mount as Trucking Industry Resists Guards

Commercial auto insurers have posted 14 consecutive years of underwriting losses. Raising premiums has not fixed the loss ratio, a senior underwriter at a large carrier said. Preventing the crash that generates the claim is the only sustainable fix, the underwriter added. Fleets already face underwriting scrutiny for driver safety programs and maintenance history. Side underride protection belongs in that conversation, the underwriter said.

The Supreme Court underscored the liability backdrop in Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II (2026). Justice Kavanaugh wrote that "truck safety is a matter of life and death" and that "not all truck accidents can be prevented, but some can." The unanimous decision recognized that common-law duties are part of state safety authority.

The American Trucking Associations asked Congress in June 2026 to preempt state tort liability for vehicles that meet federal safety standards. The group opposes the side guard mandate that would create the standard preemption requires. The industry wants the litigation exposure eliminated while opposing the mechanism that would justify the change.

For truck manufacturers, the risk is that more juries will follow the Utility precedent. Wabash National, the only publicly traded trailer maker with a side guard product, successfully crash-tested its own design in 2022. The company declined to comment on litigation exposure. Nearly every major semitrailer manufacturer now holds a side guard patent.

The math is shifting. A single avoided death or serious injury covers the $2,500 trailer cost given the typical verdict range. Insurers and fleets that bear the litigation costs face a break-even lower than the study's threshold.