Injury patterns and effective countermeasures for vehicle collision compatibility

Verma, Mukul K.; Lavelle, Joseph P.; Tan, Soo A.; Lange, Robert C.

Affiliations

Abstract

This paper examines the NASS-CDS statistics to identify the significant parameters associated with injuries in LTV to car frontal collisions. These parameters of interest are the ΔV of the colliding vehicles, the direction of impact as well as any underride of the smaller vehicle. It is observed that the cumulative ΔV curve of car occupants in frontal towaway collisions with LTVs becomes asymptotic at 30 miles per hour and that over 97% of those car occupants are in cars with a ΔV of 35 mph or less. The relationship of injuries with the reported underride in the NASS database is more complex and in several ΔV ranges, the presence of under-ride is related to a lower risk of injuries. Based on these findings, evaluations of compatibility improvement are conducted for frontal impact between an LTV and a small car at approximate ΔV of 35 mph and intrusion levels are calculated for the struck car. It is concluded from the data presented here that lowering the height of LTVs to increase the vertical overlap with a smaller vehicle may, in many cases, increase the intrusion levels in the smaller vehicle as well as increase the crash energy in the smaller vehicle. The addition of a secondary structure to LTVs for the purpose of increasing structural interaction is also investigated and it is shown that the effect of this in the studied cases is to reduce the calculated intrusion in the smaller vehicle.

Links

URL: http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/pdf/esv/esv19/05-0173-O.pdf

Cited Works (6)

Year	Entry
2003	Edwards M, Davies H, Hobbs A. Development of test procedures and performance criteria to improve compatibility in car frontal collisions. In: Proceedings of the 18th International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV). May 19-22, 2003; Nagoya, Japan.
2001	Meyerson SL, Nolan JM. Effects of geometry and stiffness on the frontal compatibility of utility vehicles. In: Proceedings of the 17th International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV). June 4-7, 2001; Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
2003	Verma MK, Lavelle JP, Lange RC. Perspectives on vehicle crash compatibility and relationship to other safety criteria. In: Proceedings of the 18th International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV). May 19-22, 2003; Nagoya, Japan.
2003	Summers SM, Hollowell WT, Prasad A. NHTSA’s research program for vehicle compatibility. In: Proceedings of the 18th International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV). May 19-22, 2003; Nagoya, Japan.
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2003	Mizuno K, Tateishi K, Arai Y, Nishimoto T. Research on vehicle compatibility in Japan. In: Proceedings of the 18th International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV). May 19-22, 2003; Nagoya, Japan.

Cited By (1)

Year	Entry
2007	Patel S, Smith D, Prasad A, Mohan P. NHTSA’s recent vehicle crash test program on compatibility in front-to-front impacts. In: Proceedings of the 20th International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV). June 18-21, 2007; Lyon, France.