Status of NHTSA’s ejection mitigation research program

Willke, Donald T.; Summers, Stephen; Duffy, J. Stephen; Louden, Allison E.; Elias, Jeffrey C.

Affiliations

¹National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

²Transportation Research Center, Inc., USA

Abstract

One of the most important problems in rollover safety is ejection mitigation. A few years ago, advanced side glazing systems appeared to be the only reasonable method for passively providing ejection mitigation. More recently, automobile manufacturers announced plans to provide ejection mitigation in some of their vehicles through the use of inflatable devices. These devices are modified versions of the inflatable head protection devices that are currently available in many vehicles. Both inflatable devices and advanced glazing systems are being examined in NHTSA’s current ejection mitigation research program.

A dynamic rollover fixture (DRF) was developed as a research tool to produce full-dummy ejections more repeatably and at less cost than full-scale testing. The DRF is being used to evaluate the effectiveness of inflatable devices, advanced glazings, and combinations of these systems in reducing occupant ejections. Also, impactor tests were previously developed to measure the retention and head injury causing potential of advanced glazing systems. These test procedures are being examined to determine if they are suitable for evaluating inflatable devices and combination systems. This paper discusses the status of the agency’s current ejection mitigation research program.

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Cited By (1)

Year	Entry
2005	Summers S, Willke DT, Sullivan LK, Duffy JS, Sword M. NHTSA’s crashworthiness rollover research program. In: Proceedings of the 19th International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV). June 6-9, 2005; Washington, DC.