The Dynamic Rollover Protection (DROP) Research Program

The Dynamic Rollover Protection (DROP) research program is attempting to establish which combination of crash severity, roll kinematics, biomechanical injury criteria, crash test dummy, and restraint systems, address the major proportion of fatalities and serious injuries occurring to seat belted and restrained occupants involved in rollover crashes. The outcomes of this three to four year research program will be an understanding of those factors most important for regulators, industry and consumer groups to consider when developing a dynamic rollover crashworthiness compliance or consumer rating crash test protocol. The research program and progress on the sub tasks from the DROP program are presented. In particular, investigations of how head, chest or thorax fatal injuries are to be replicated for a typical rollover crash, are outlined. The advanced UNSW version of the Jordan Rollover System, recently installed at Sydney’s Roads and Maritime Services Crashlab test facility, is also described in the paper.