NHTSA’s advanced air bag technology research program

Summers, Lori; Hollowell, William T.; Rains, Glen C.

This paper reports on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA’s) research program on Advanced Air Bag Technology. This program was initiated to establish the technical basis for new vehicle performance requirementsf or improved occupantc rashp rotection. The primary tasks include: real-world crash investigations, development and certification of test dummies and associated injury criteria, evaluation of advanced air bag technology, and development of test procedures. NHTSA also has initiated cooperative research programs with NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Transport Canada, and is gathering information and data through the Motor Vehicle Safety Research Advisory Committee (MVSRAC). Research work will be used to support rulemaking activities on advanced air bag systems, This paper presents an overview of this effort.

Year

Entry

1997

Kleinberger M, Summers L. Mechanisms of injuries for adults and children resulting from airbag interaction. In: 41st Annual Proceedings, Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine (AAAM). November 10-11, 1997; Orlando, FL.405-420.

1998

Chidester AB, Rutland KW. Air bag crash investigations. In: Proceedings of the 16th International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV). May 31–June 4, 1998; Windsor, Ontario, Canada.1192-1203.

1998

Park BT, Morgan RM, Hackney JR, Lowrie JC. The effect of redesigned airbags on frontal USA NCAP. In: Proceedings of the 16th International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV). May 31–June 4, 1998; Windsor, Ontario, Canada.2386-2399.

1998

Stucki SL. Crash tests to reconstruct NASS cases of child fatality/injury from air bags. In: Proceedings of the 16th International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV). May 31–June 4, 1998; Windsor, Ontario, Canada.1226-1233.

1998

Rains GC, Prasad A, Summers L, Terrell M. Assessment of advanced air bag technology and less aggressive air bag designs through performance testing. In: Proceedings of the 16th International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV). May 31–June 4, 1998; Windsor, Ontario, Canada.1003-.

1998

Dalmotas DJ. Assessments of air bag performance based on the 5th percentile female Hybrid III crash test dummy. In: Proceedings of the 16th International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV). May 31–June 4, 1998; Windsor, Ontario, Canada.1019-1035.

Year

Entry

2001

Summers L, Hollowell WT, Prasad A. Analysis of occupant protection provided to 50th percentile male dummies sitting mid-track and 5th percentile female dummies sitting full-forward in crash tests of paired vehicles with redesigned air bag systems. In: Proceedings of the 17th International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV). June 4-7, 2001; Amsterdam, The Netherlands.