In recent years a large number of frontal crash tests have been reported which Were designed specifically to represent real crash situations. In these tests many cars showed a crash behaviour leading to unacceptable deformations of the passenger compartment. Apparent reason for this is that insufficient design efforts were made to cope with the high and uneven mechanical loads occurring in such realistic collisions. Improved frontal crashworthiness of cars necessitates additional design requirements, which take into account that the majority of collisions occur with partial frontal overlap, at oblique impact angles, and at velocities that deviate significantly from the regulated test speeds.

The authors have formulated such a set of design requirements. Based upon a numerical simulation study they propose a concept for a longitudinal member capable of the desired crash response.