To protect occupants during a rollover event, restraint control modules with integrated Rollover Sensing (RoSe) function have been developed. These devices are able to trigger belt tensioners and curtain airbags if the vehicle’s roll angle and roll rate indicate that the vehicle is going to tip over. Especially in the case of tripped rollovers, however, the optimum deployment time for curtain airbags is before the vehicle has build up a significant roll angle. To cope with this challenge the advanced rollover sensing function from Bosch uses the lateral velocity of the vehicle as additional input to its deployment decision.

Based on a new crash test setup developed by Dekra the performance benefit of this advanced rollover sensing system can be shown under realistic circumstances. The test does not only cover the rollover phase but also the skidding phase before the vehicle passes onto the soil and rolls over. First tests have been performed to investigate both the repeatability of the movement and the behaviour of the vehicle during such tests. To steer the car, an optically controlled guidance is used combined with a time-based activation of the steering without braking. The vehicle with rightwards steered front wheels runs for a short time on a μ-split path. Several sensors are used to measure the relevant kinematics (velocity, acceleration, yaw-, roll- and pitch-rate). Additionally the movement is filmed by several high-speed cameras.

In the article the authors describe the test method and the results and discuss the benefit of this new method to assess the performance of an algorithm for advanced rollover protection.