If you’ve searched for information about underride accidents, you’re likely a parent, spouse, or driver who has heard the heartbreaking stories — passenger cars sliding beneath the rear or side of a tractor-trailer in a crash, often with catastrophic consequences. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), approximately 400 people die each year in underride collisions in the United States, and federal regulators acknowledge the true number is likely far higher because many fatal crashes are coded simply as “truck-involved.” A grassroots coalition of mothers — many of whom buried their own children after side-underride collisions — has spent more than a decade pushing Congress and the California legislature to finally close the gap.
At Compass Law Group, LLP, our Beverly Hills truck accident lawyer team has helped families across California recover compensation after devastating commercial-vehicle collisions, including underride crashes. As advocates for the families left behind, we believe parents and policymakers deserve a clear-eyed look at why these laws still lag and what California drivers can do to protect themselves today.
What Is an Underride Crash, and Why Are Mothers Demanding New Laws?
An “underride” occurs when a passenger vehicle collides with a tractor-trailer and slides under the trailer’s body — typically the rear or the side. Because passenger cars are designed to crumple at bumper height, and most trailers sit roughly 45 inches off the ground, the truck’s chassis can shear away the top of the smaller vehicle. The injuries are almost always catastrophic: traumatic brain injury, decapitation, severe spinal cord damage, or instant death. Victims who survive often need lifelong care, which is why our brain injury attorney team frequently consults on these matters.
The mothers driving this legislative push include Marianne Karth, who lost two daughters in a 2013 rear-underride collision in Georgia, and Lois Durso, whose daughter Roya was killed in a side-underride crash in 2004. Together with the Truck Safety Coalition, they have testified before Congress and state legislatures advocating for the AnnaLeah & Mary Comprehensive Truck Safety Act, which would require side underride guards, stronger rear guards, and front override protection on all newly manufactured Class 8 trucks. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has demonstrated through crash testing that properly engineered side guards can prevent the passenger compartment from being intruded at speeds up to 40 mph.
For Californians, the stakes are particularly high. The state moves more freight than any other in the country, and corridors like the I-5, I-10, and I-710 see thousands of heavy-truck trips daily. When a commercial trailer enters our streets without adequate guards, every driver — from a parent in Los Angeles commuting on the 405 to a small-business owner driving through Oakland — bears the risk.
How Does California Law Address Underride and Truck Equipment Defects?
California does not have a standalone statute requiring side underride guards, but several legal frameworks already give injury victims meaningful recourse. The personal-injury statute of limitations under CCP § 335.1 generally provides two years from the date of injury (or death) to file a civil action. California Civil Code § 1714 establishes the basic duty every person owes to act with reasonable care, and California has long recognized strict products liability for manufacturers and distributors of dangerous trailers.
Additionally, California Vehicle Code § 24008 prohibits operating any vehicle in an unsafe condition that endangers any person, and CHP regulations require commercial trucks to comply with federal motor-carrier safety regulations. When a trailer’s rear underride guard is damaged, corroded, or improperly retrofitted, fleet operators violate both federal Title 49 CFR Part 393 and California’s commercial inspection rules. A skilled commercial truck accident attorney will pursue these violations as evidence of negligence per se, which can dramatically strengthen a family’s case.
For families pursuing a wrongful-death or catastrophic-injury personal injury claim, California’s comparative-fault rules also matter. Even if the smaller vehicle’s driver bore some responsibility for the underlying crash, the trailer owner and manufacturer can still be held accountable for the disproportionate harm caused by missing or defective guards. This principle — that catastrophic injuries beyond what would have occurred with proper safety equipment are separately compensable — sits at the heart of every underride lawsuit.
Who Can Be Held Liable When a Truck Lacks Proper Underride Protection?
Underride cases are rarely simple, and identifying every responsible party often requires immediate investigation. The following parties may share liability after a California underride collision:
- The trailer manufacturer — for designing or building a trailer with a guard that failed to meet FMVSS No. 223/224 strength requirements, or for marketing a trailer without side protection where it was technologically feasible.
- The motor carrier (trucking company) — for operating equipment with damaged or missing guards, skipping required inspections, or hiring drivers without verifying training under federal carrier-safety rules.
- The driver — for operating a trailer the driver knew or should have known was unsafe, failing to perform pre-trip inspections, or driving in a manner (such as illegal lane changes) that exposed smaller vehicles to underride.
- Maintenance contractors and repair shops — for failing to repair, replace, or properly weld damaged guards after prior incidents.
- The shipper or broker — when loading practices contributed to instability, jackknifing, or rollover that exposed the side of the trailer.
- Government entities — in narrow cases, where a defective road condition, missing barrier, or signage failure contributed to the collision.
This layered liability matters because heavy-truck collisions often involve catastrophic damages well into the seven and eight figures, and a single defendant’s insurance policy may not cover the family’s losses. A thorough investigation by a Los Angeles truck accident lawyer typically begins within days of the crash — preserving the trailer, downloading ECM data, photographing the guard’s condition, and serving litigation-hold letters before evidence disappears.
California Truck Accidents Statistics: By the Numbers
The data behind the mothers’ advocacy is sobering. The numbers below help families understand both the scale of the problem and why state and federal action remains so urgent:
- 5,936 people died in large-truck crashes nationwide in 2022, an 18% increase over 2021, according to the NHTSA Large Trucks topic page.
- ~400 fatalities each year are estimated to involve underride, though the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Government Accountability Office both warn the figure is significantly underreported.
- 219,000+ injury crashes nationwide involved a large truck in 2020 — the most recent NHTSA data — with California consistently ranking among the top three states for total truck-involved collisions.
- $1.2 million is the average comprehensive cost of a fatal large-truck crash according to Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration data, with multi-fatality crashes routinely exceeding $7.2 million per incident.
- 40 mph is the speed at which IIHS-tested side underride guards have successfully prevented passenger-compartment intrusion — the speed at which most fatal urban underride collisions occur.
Behind every statistic is a family whose life changed in seconds. The mothers leading this fight have ensured their daughters’ names are tied to the policy debate so that lawmakers cannot reduce the issue to abstract numbers.
How Much Is an Underride Truck Accident Case Worth in California?
Settlement and verdict values in California underride cases vary widely depending on injury severity, liability clarity, and available insurance. Cases involving severe traumatic brain injury, paraplegia, or wrongful death routinely settle in the $1 million to $10 million range, and verdicts above $20 million are not unusual where punitive damages apply. Compensatory damages typically include past and future medical expenses, lost income and earning capacity, pain and suffering, loss of consortium, and — in fatal cases — funeral expenses and the survivors’ loss of love, companionship, and support under California’s wrongful-death statute (CCP § 377.60).
Because most commercial trailers are insured under federal MCS-90 endorsements with minimum coverage of $750,000 — and in many cases $1 million to $5 million — the available insurance is generally sufficient to make families whole when liability is proven. However, when multiple defendants share fault (manufacturer, carrier, maintenance contractor), policies stack, and the total recovery can far exceed any single insurer’s limits. We have seen this firsthand in cases handled by our Sacramento truck accident lawyer team and in the broader California freight corridor.
Related dangers — like a tire failure that contributes to a jackknife and subsequent underride — also drive case value. Our recent analysis of tire failures in commercial fleets, available in our Truck Tire Blowout: Causes, Risks, & Legal Recourse guide, walks families through the additional liability theories that often appear in these complex collisions. For a broader overview of California traffic-injury rights, our California car accident attorney resources cover crash mechanics, comparative fault, and damages calculations relevant to mixed truck-passenger collisions.
Source: Compass Law Group | Truck Accidents
Steps to Take After a Truck Accident in California
If you or a loved one has been involved in a collision with a commercial truck — whether on the I-5 near Sacramento, the I-710 in Long Beach, or anywhere else in California — the actions you take in the first hours and days can shape the entire outcome of your case.
- Call 911 immediately and accept paramedic evaluation, even if you feel “okay.” Adrenaline masks brain injuries, internal bleeding, and spinal damage that often emerge hours later.
- Photograph the trailer’s underride guard, license plate, DOT number, and any visible damage before the truck is moved. Side and rear guards corrode, bend, or detach — and that condition is the case.
- Get the driver’s name, employer, CDL number, and insurance information, plus contact details for every witness. Carriers routinely dispatch rapid-response investigators within hours; you should not be the only side without evidence.
- Preserve all medical records, ER discharge papers, imaging, and prescription receipts in one folder, and keep a daily symptom journal documenting pain, mobility, missed work, and emotional impact.
- Do not give a recorded statement to the trucking company’s insurer or sign any release before you speak with an attorney — even routine-sounding “courtesy calls” are used to lock in damaging admissions.
- Contact a California truck-accident attorney within days, not weeks, so litigation-hold letters can be served before logbooks, ECM data, and dashcam footage are overwritten or destroyed.
- Report safety defects to NHTSA and the CHP if you believe missing or damaged equipment contributed — your report joins a federal database that influences future rulemaking.
How Compass Law Group Builds Your Case
For more than a decade, Compass Law Group has recovered over $250 million for clients across California—from Los Angeles to San Francisco, Long Beach to Sacramento. Managing partners Joseph Shirazi and Simon Esfandi have built the firm around a simple principle: families harmed by corporate negligence deserve a legal team that can match the resources of any defendant manufacturer or insurance carrier.
Our approach begins with a free, no-obligation consultation in which we listen, review the facts, and explain your options in plain language. If we accept your case, we work on a contingency basis—you pay nothing unless we recover for your child. We retain qualified engineers, biomechanical specialists, pediatric neurologists, and life-care planners early in the process, and we issue formal preservation letters within days to lock down the physical evidence. Many of the strategies and case studies we discuss in our recent articles draw directly from the playbook we apply to every product liability matter.
We litigate aggressively and prepare every file as if it will go to trial, which is precisely why most resolve favorably without one. When a manufacturer refuses fair compensation, we are ready in the courtroom—and our results reflect it.
Q: Are side underride guards required on commercial trucks in California?
No. As of 2026, neither California nor federal law requires side underride guards on most commercial trailers. Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards Nos. 223 and 224 mandate only rear guards on trailers manufactured after 1998, and the strength requirements were modestly upgraded in 2024. California has not enacted a state-level side-guard mandate. However, the absence of a guard does not eliminate liability — California product-liability and negligence law still allow injured families to sue when a manufacturer chose not to include a guard the technology made feasible.
Q: How long do I have to file an underride truck-accident lawsuit in California?
Under California Code of Civil Procedure § 335.1, you generally have two years from the date of injury (or death) to file a personal-injury or wrongful-death lawsuit. If a public entity such as Caltrans is involved, you must file an administrative government tort claim within six months, and the deadline cannot be extended easily. Evidence preservation, however, should begin within days — trucking companies are not required to keep electronic logs, dashcam footage, or maintenance records longer than federal minimums (often six months), so waiting can permanently destroy your case.
Q: Who pays for my medical bills while my underride case is pending?
In California, your own auto insurance MedPay coverage and health insurance typically pay first while litigation proceeds. Many doctors and hospitals will also accept a “lien” — meaning they treat you now and recover their bill from your settlement. The trucking company’s insurer is generally not obligated to pay medical bills as they accrue; they pay a lump-sum settlement at the end of the case. Our firm works directly with medical providers to defer billing and protect your credit while the case develops, and we never charge you anything unless we recover compensation.
Q: Can the trucking company blame me for the underride to reduce my compensation?
They will try. California follows pure comparative fault, meaning your recovery is reduced by your percentage of responsibility for the underlying collision — but the catastrophic injuries caused by a missing or defective underride guard are often considered separately. If, for example, you were 30% at fault for a lane-change collision, the carrier might still bear 100% responsibility for the brain injury caused specifically by the lack of a side guard. This is a sophisticated argument that requires accident-reconstruction and biomechanical experts; do not assume any percentage of fault means you have no case.
Q: What evidence is most important in a California underride truck case?
The trailer itself is the single most important piece of evidence. Photographs of the rear or side guard’s condition, weld integrity, and any prior repair work — taken before the trucking company moves or repairs the trailer — can win or lose the case. Other critical evidence includes the truck’s electronic control module data, driver hours-of-service logs, maintenance records, the carrier’s federal safety rating, and any prior citations from the CHP or FMCSA. A litigation-hold letter served within days of the crash legally requires the trucking company to preserve this material under threat of evidence-spoliation sanctions.
Get Your Free Consultation Today
If you or someone you love has been catastrophically injured in a California underride or commercial-truck collision, Compass Law Group is ready to help. No Win, No Fee — and you pay nothing unless we recover compensation for your family.
