University of Michigan. Transportation Research Institute.

In 1965 the automobile manufacturers, who were strongly lobbying for a federal program, approached the University of Michigan with a $10 million gift to establish a highway safety research program. In 1966 the federal government created a new program to improve automotive and highway safety. The university accepted the funding and with it created an ad hoc faculty program advisory committee to develop the interdisciplinary program of research. The new Highway Safety Research Institute (HSRI) was to have three main goals:

Four million dollars of the original gift was used to construct the building and equip the laboratories that make up the current site of the University of Michigan Transportation Institute (UMTRI). The remaining six million dollars was spent to develop a research program funded through the year 1972. The original gift was supplemented through grants and contracts from state and federal agencies, automotive companies and their suppliers, as well as industry associations. The name was changed from the Highway Safety Research Institute to the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute in 1982 to more accurately reflect the broad scope of its research activities.

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