In recent years, the specification of a Side Impact Moving Deformable Barrier (MDB) has been in discussion internationally. This paper describes the results of our investigation and examination concerning the MDB specification, based on current Japanese models. The paper describes the following.

1. The Investigation of the dimension of passenger cars in the Japanese market to determine the average of car front-end dimension characteristics.
2. The Analysis of force distribution on the rigid barrier in a frontal barrier impact test of typical Japanese passenger car models by using FEM.
3. Comparison of test results between a car-to-car test using the passenger car with average front-end characteristic as a striking car and a MDB-to-car test under ECE R95 test condition.

As the results of these studies, we summarize the necessary considerations to represent real vehicle for the design of the MDB face for a future internationally harmonized procedure of side impact testing under consideration by the Harmonization Research Activity (“IHRA”) of Side Impact Test Procedures.