Review of the European frontal and side impact directive

Edwards, Mervyn; Fails, Adrian; Davies, Huw; Lowne, Richard; Hobbs, Adrian

Affiliations

Abstract

The work reported here relates to a research project that was undertaken to support the current review of the European frontal and side impact Directives. The aim of the project was to conduct a general review focusing on the major issues identified in the Articles of the Directives and in a report to the European Commission on accident analyses. These are test speed, neck injury criteria and extension to N1 vehicles for frontal impact; and test severity, barrier height, seating position, Viscous Criterion and the necessity of a pole test for side impact. A comprehensive analysis of the results from the European New Car Assessment Programme (EuroNCAP) crash tests has been used to review the suitability of the current injury criteria, car structural performance requirements and test configuration. This is backed up with accident analysis using data from the UK Co-operative Crash Injury Study (CCIS) and the recent accident analysis co-funded by the European Commission. Full scale car crash testing has been used to help substantiate the findings of the study. The research was funded by the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR) and has been reported to the European Enhanced Vehicle-safety Committee (EEVC) frontal and side impact working groups.

Links

URL: http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/pdf/nrd-01/Esv/esv17/Proceed/00214.pdf

Cited Works (3)

Year	Entry
1996	Lowne RW. The validation of the EEVC frontal impact test procedure. In: Proceedings of the 15th International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV). May 13-16, 1996; Melbourne, Australia.401-413.
1986	Lau IV, Viano DC. The viscous criterion: bases and applications of an injury severity index for soft tissues. In: Proceedings of the 30th Stapp Car Crash Conference. October 27-29, 1986; San Diego, CA. Warrendale, PA: Society of Automotive Engineers:123-142. SAE 861882.
1989	Hobbs CA. The influence of car structures and padding on side impact injuries. In: Proceedings of the 12th International Technical Conference on Experimental Safety Vehicles (ESV). May 29–June 1, 1989; Göteborg, Sweden.954-962.

Cited By (4)

Year	Entry
2003	Thomas P, Frampton R. Crash testing for real-world safety: what are the priorities for casualty reduction? In: Proceedings of the 18th International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV). May 19-22, 2003; Nagoya, Japan.
2009	Thomas P, Welsh R, Lenguerrand E, Vallet G, Otte D, Strandroth J. Priorities for enhanced side impact protection in regulation 95 compliant cars. In: Proceedings of the 21st International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV). June 15-18, 2009; Stuttgart, Germany.
2003	Thomas P, Frampton R. Real-world crash performance of recent model cars: next steps in injury prevention. In: Proceedings of the 2003 International IRCOBI Conference on the Biomechanics of Impact. September 25, 2003; Lisbon, Portugal.293-307.
2009	Welsh R, Morris A, Thomas P, Lenard J, Barnes J, Otte D. Car to car struck side impacts: a comparison between European accident data and Directive 96/27/EC. In: Proceedings of the 2009 International IRCOBI Conference on the Biomechanics of Impact. September 9-11, 2009; York, UK.115-127.