The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has begun a new side impact crashworthiness evaluation program using tests that represent impacts from large pickup trucks or sport utility vehicles. Such vehicles are increasingly common in the North American fleet and often are the striking vehicles in side impacts with serious injuries. Earlier reports document the research underpinning the design of the new IIHS moving deformable barrier (MDB) and the selection of the SID-IIs dummy for the driver and left rear passenger positions.

In this report, research is discussed in which alternative mass (1,500 or 1,900 kg), impact speed (48.3 or 50.0 km/h), and approach angle (crabbed or perpendicular) of the MDB were investigated. Impact speed affected dummy injury measures and kinematics more than mass or approach angle. Based on these results, the impact configuration for the side impact program specifies a 1,500 kg MDB, a perpendicular impact into the side of a stationary vehicle, and a test speed of 50.0 km/h.