CORRELATION OF VEHICLE PERFORMANCE IN THE NEW CAR ASSESSMENT PROGRAM WITH FATALITY RISK IN ACTUAL HEAD-ON COLLISIONS. IN: SEAT BELTS: THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN ESSENTIAL SAFETY FEATURE

The performance of vehicles in frontal impact tests has been gauged by the New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) since 1979. NCAP test speeds and impact locations closely resemble the conditions in a large proportion of actual frontal crashes that result in fatalities or serious injuries. The paper examines some of the NCAP major goals that include: reaching a larger group of the population with simplified data that will assist consumers in their vehicle purchase; expanding the collection of safety information by using the additional capabilities of the more advanced Hybrid III dummy to measure the potential for lower limb and neck injuries; expand NCAP into side-impact testing to provide comparative side impact information to consumers along with the frontal NCAP information; and monitoring rollover safety activities to determine the potential for providing consumers with comparative information on levels of protection in the rollover crash mode.