The development of the frontal offset deformable barrier test

Hobbs, C. Adrian; Williams, D. Aled

Affiliations

¹Transport Research Laboratory, United Kingdom

Abstract

Passenger compartment intrusion has been shown to be the major cause of fatal and serious injuries to restrained ear occupants in frontal impacts. Current frontal test procedures do not generate the levels of intrusion seen in accidents at similar impact speeds, The need for an asymmetric test has been recognised for some time but more recently it has become clear that the rigid nature of the impact block is misleading car design. An offset deformable impact test has been developed which overcomes these problems and which has received widespread acceptance for its technical merit. Manufacturers have pressed legislators into adopting an angled barrier test prior to this deformable test. Lack of experience with this angled test and problems with the Anti-Slide Devices (ASD) employed have caused many to question its adoption. This paper reviews the reasons behind the development of the offset deformable test and discusses some of the technical problems identified with the 30° angled barrier test with ASD.

Cited Works (2)

Year	Entry
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Cited By (4)

Year	Entry
1996	Klanner W, Langwieder K. The correlation between test and real-life accidents for the car-to-car frontal crash. In: Proceedings of the 15th International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV). May 13-16, 1996; Melbourne, Australia.210-219.
1996	Neilson I. Achieving compatibility at impact. In: Proceedings of the 15th International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV). May 13-16, 1996; Melbourne, Australia.602-606.
1998	Meyerson SL, Zuby DS, Lund AK. Repeatability of frontal offset crash tests. In: Proceedings of the 16th International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV). May 31–June 4, 1998; Windsor, Ontario, Canada.2400-2411.
2013	Mueller BC, Sherwood CP, Nolan JP, Zuby DS. Repeatability of IIHS small overlap frontal crash tests. In: Proceedings of the 23rd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV). May 27-30, 2013; Seoul, South Korea.