TORONTO—Authorities across Canada are awaiting test results from the U.S. before deciding what to do about thousands of safety devices with alleged defects that they say could cause guardrails to rip through cars and motorists instead of protecting them in crashes.
In the interim, several provinces have stopped installing the units, which would cost tens of millions of dollars to remove, while the town of Stratford, Ont., has launched a proposed $500-million class action against the manufacturer.
At issue is Trinity’s ET Plus—the end unit of the guardrail—which is supposed to absorb impact and guide the rail so a crashing vehicle isn’t slamming into the rigid steel end.
The lawsuit, filed in Ontario Superior Court on behalf of all affected Canadian jurisdictions, alleges Trinity Industries secretly made unauthorized changes to the ET Plus about 10 years ago and failed to warn anyone about “serious failures” it knew about.
“Rather than absorbing the crash energy as originally intended, designed and tested, the guardrail becomes a rigid spear that impales the vehicle and its occupants, often severing limbs,” the suit states.
