FRONTAL AND SIDE IMPACT CRASHWORTHINESS-COMPACT CARS, SUMMARY

A study was conducted to develop techniques for the improvement of front and side vehicle crashworthiness. These techniques were applied to a production compact vehicle, the 1973 AMC Hornet. General vehicle configruation was maintained as was production feasibility. Total weight increase for all modifications was 104 lbs. Five baseline, three subsystem and fifteen system vehicle crash tests were conducted. Modified vehicles demonstrated substantial improvement over baseline vehicle performance. Mathematical models for estimating dynamic response characteristics of vehicles involved in a wide variety of crash conditions including flat barrier, oblique barrier, pole and vehicle-to-vehicle impacts were developed. Computer simulations were conducted and results of simulations compared with crash test results.