Heavy Truck & Commercial Vehicle Crash

Heavy truck and commercial vehicle crash — the distinct structures, regulations, and failure patterns of Class 7-8 vehicles and their trailers.

Private cohorts & on-site
Format: 2-day (8:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m.)
Level: Advanced
Location: Scheduled on demand · on-site at your facility or a regional venue
Date(s): Not yet scheduled for open enrollment. Get notified when it is, or book it privately for your team.
Includes: Certificate of Completion · printed slide binder · take-home reference text

Get notified when this course is scheduled

One email when dates are set. Or skip the wait: run it as a private cohort, on-site at your plant.

Talk to us about a private cohort
  • One email, no sequence
  • Never shared
  • Reply within one business day

Faculty

Faculty details for this seminar will be announced with the full schedule.

Fees

Early: $1,895 (payment 4+ weeks ahead)
Standard: $2,095 (check/ACH) · $2,165 (card)

Group discount: $200 off per attendee for 3+ from the same organization.

Also Available

  • Corporate on-site delivery at your facility
  • Private cohort sessions
  • Digital curriculum licensing

Seminar Overview

Heavy trucks dominate commercial crash and liability — and their dynamics, braking, and body structures behave unlike passenger vehicles. This seminar teaches the engineering of commercial-vehicle crashes: heavy-truck dynamics and stability, air-brake and brake-performance analysis, weight and load distribution, underride and occupant spaces, and reconstruction of truck-involved incidents. Taught by a heavy-truck crash specialist at an affiliated engineering firm, it is the specialist complement for the commercial-facing ETS market.

Ideal Learner

  • Accident reconstructionists handling commercial crashes
  • Vehicle-dynamics and braking engineers
  • Fleet-safety and product-liability engineers
  • FMCSA-adjacent compliance and safety professionals
  • Legal and insurance professionals in trucking litigation

Learning Objectives

  • Explain heavy-truck dynamics, stability, and braking physics
  • Analyze air-brake performance and stopping capability
  • Assess load distribution, weight, and their dynamic effects
  • Reconstruct truck-involved crashes and underride
  • Evaluate truckmaker/trucking liability from an engineering standpoint

Consulting Sessions

Seminar attendees can sign up for individual consulting sessions with the instructor. Sessions are free for registered attendees, first-come first-served — sign up when registering by calling 248-539-0473 or during the seminar.

Seminar Outline

  • Class 7/8 trucks, tractors, trailers, and their dynamics
  • Weight, load distribution, and fifth-wheel/kingpin loads
  • Why trucks behave differently than cars
  • Air-brake architecture and operation
  • Brake force, deceleration capability, and stopping distance
  • Brake-system failure and maintenance evidence
  • Rollover threshold and stability dynamics
  • Load shifting and center-of-gravity effects
  • Jackknife and loss-of-control mechanisms
  • Speed/reconstruction for heavy vehicles
  • Underride, overrun, and crash severity
  • Event/data and telematics in commercial fleets
  • FMVSS 121 (braking), FMCSA regulations
  • Driver factors (HOS, fatigue) in liability
  • Vehicle-vs-driver-vs-carrier responsibility
  • Attendees reconstruct a heavy-truck crash
  • Assess braking, load, and human factors
  • Present the engineering finding

More in Track F — Crash, Structures, Reconstruction & Injury

Full Course Catalog