Researcher: Vehicles can prevent crashes; Retiring official points to `next frontier for safety'.

Byline: Harry Stoffer

Safety advocates railed when the federal government scrapped research vehicles it developed in the 1970s and 1980s to show how to protect occupants from injuries in crashes.

But Joseph Kanianthra, who helped develop the cars, says they live on. Almost all of the occupant protection features of the experimental vehicles are now part of the cars and trucks automakers build for consumers, he notes.

Kanianthra told Automotive News he takes special pride in that knowledge. On Friday, Aug. 1, he retired from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration after a 32-year career.

Kanianthra, 74, was one of the most senior …