Crash testing for real-world safety:​ what are the priorities for casualty reduction?

Thomas, Pete; Frampton, Richard

Affiliations

¹Vehicle Safety Research Centre, Loughborough University, United Kingdom

Abstract

The introduction of European legislative and consumer crash testing requirements in the late 1990s has resulted in marked changes in the design of vehicle structures and restraint systems. Crash tested vehicles in the range of New Car Assessment Programmes typically show reduced injury assessment values from the dummies and lower levels of intrusion, particularly in frontal impacts.

This paper examines real-world accident data to evaluate the changes that have taken place in car performance and the circumstances of injury in order to evaluate what new priorities there are in car occupant protection. Comparisons are made between older cars, built between 1991 and 1996 and newer cars, built up to 2000.The main conclusions are:

The rate of fatal driver injury in newer cars is 24% below that for the older cars;
More car occupants now die in side impacts than in frontal impacts, 27% of these are seated on the far side of the vehicle;
The numbers of fatalities in collisions with roadside objects virtually equals those killed in car to car impacts;
The collision severities of fatal frontal impacts have not increased and there is little justification to raise crash test speeds;
The collisions severities of fatal side impacts remain substantially above crash test speeds;
Rear seat-belt use is low amongst fatally or seriously injured rear-seat passengers, this group is likely to receive the greatest benefit from belt reminder systems

Cited Works (4)

Year	Entry
2001	Edwards M, Fails A, Davies H, Lowne R, Hobbs A. Review of the European frontal and side impact directive. In: Proceedings of the 17th International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV). June 4-7, 2001; Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
2002	Frampton R, Welsh R, Thomas P. Belted driver protection in frontal impact: what has been achieved and where do future priorities lie? In: 46th Annual Proceedings, Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine (AAAM). September 30–October 2, 2002; Tempe, AZ.
2000	Frampton R, Welsh R, Thomas P, Fay P. The importance of non-struck side occupants in side collisions. J Crash Prev Injury Control. 2000;2(2):151-163.
2002	Kirk A, Frampton R, Thomas P. An evaluation of airbag benefits/disbenefits in european vehicles: a combined statistical and case study approach. In: Proceedings of the 2002 International IRCOBI Conference on the Biomechanics of Impact. September 18-20, 2002; Munich, Germany.

Cited By (2)

Year	Entry
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.
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.