TRENDS IN OCCUPANT PROTECTION AND CRASH PERFORMANCE IN EUROPE

Within the nine countries of the European community, representing a population of 242 M, there are annually some 58000 fatalities and 1.6 M other casualties as a result of vehicle accidents. The author refers to the suggestion that if the protection offered by present day restraint technology were available to all vehicle-occupants involved in fatal accidents; the number of lives saved in the community in 1977 might be approximately 1200. The design rules and performance standards as they affect vehicle safety regulations in Europe are reviewed and compared with those of other countries. The limitations behind the application of design rules in that all vehicles do not have the same mass, the same geometry and the same dynamic stiffness are considered, and the implications behind the transition from design rules to performance standards in an attempt to solve this problem are discussed. The proposed American fmvss 208 regulation is examined. This performance standard specifies the forces, decelerations and time histories on a dummy which reproduces all dynamic response characteristics of the human frame under crash loading conditions. Seat belts as occupant restraint systems are considered by the author to be the most important factor in planning occupant protection for the future. Developments of such systems are considered in relation to steering assembly requirements, lateral impacts, head restraints and seats, and the windscreen and the instrument panel. /TRRL/