PERSPECTIVES ON VEHICLE CRASH COMPATIBILITY AND RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER SAFETY CRITERIA

A study of accident data for vehicle-to-vehicle collisions shows that for injuries of AIS equal to or greater than 3, significant portions of vehicles' front structures are involved in the crash, both in frontal and in side impacts. Analysis presented here also shows that most of the LTV-to-car crashes are side impacts and that these side impacts account for 57 percent of the total harm associated with LTV-to-car crashes. These frontal and side impacts between LTVs and cars are further divided by the location and the direction of impact. It has been shown earlier that the use of fixed barriers as test devices for crashworthiness is likely to lead to front structures of larger vehicles being designed for higher force levels than the front structures of smaller vehicles, the overall effect being decreased crash compatibility between vehicles. The effect of the side impact barrier, used for compliance with dynamic FMVSS 214, as shown by updated data, is again observed to be improved compatibility between vehicles of different sizes. For the covering abstract see ITRD E825082.