Truck Research Services Inc. is a consultancy organization formed by Farrel Krall upon his retirement in 1996 from Navistar International Transportation Corp. (formerly International Harvester Company – IHC). Farrel joined the IHC Truck Engineering Organization in 1960 with a BS Mechanical Engineering Degree and has devoted the last 40 of his 45-year engineering career to truck safety. He worked in vehicle design and test engineering for the first 6+ years of his career at IHC and then transferred to the Engineering Vehicle Safety Group shortly after Congress passed the 1966 Safety Act. He was selected to head the engineering safety group in 1972, and in 1979 was appointed Manager of the newly formed IHC Technical Legislation Group, the position he held until retiring in August 1996.
Krall was intimately involved in all USDOT (NHTSA, FMCSA, & NTSB) truck-related safety research and rulemaking activities from 1966 until his retirement in 1996. During this 30-year period, he authored the company’s official responses to USDOT rulemaking notices and had oversight responsibility for regulatory compliance of the company’s diverse product line of trucks, buses, and multipurpose passenger vehicles. He served on numerous SAE safety, engineering, research, and standards-development committees, and on similar committees of the Motor Vehicle Manufacturers Association (MVMA) from 1966 until MVMA was dissolved in 1992. He was also a member of many government and industry advisory committees, and served as a member of the steering committee responsible for organizing the current U.S. Truck Manufacturers Association (TMA) as a successor to the MVMA organization.
Krall has played a significant industry leadership role in advancing the state-of-the-art of commercial vehicle safety. An example is his early pioneering role on the part of truck manufacturers in sponsoring the design, development, and implementation of truck accident data programs, dating back to the mid-1960s at which time meaningful statistical data on truck-involved accidents were virtually non-existent. He has authored numerous articles and publications regarding progress made in truck safety since enactment of the 1966 Safety Act.
Research, Accident, and Vehicle Crash Performance Analysis
Featured Publication:
Four Decades of
Truck Safety
Progress
ABA Committee News
Feature Article
February 2006 Newsletter
Truck Manufacturers Association
Society of Automotive Engineers
University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute
>>This is the day the Lord has made, rejoice and be glad in it.
Krall has taken the opportunity to develop this website as a reference resource and overview documentary of the many safety advancements that have been made via the co-operative efforts of the trucking industry and the USDOT during his 40-year career in truck safety.
