The objective of the Guided Rollover Propensity (GRP) test device is to subject vehicles and occupants to dynamic rollover accident conditions and to assess the performance of some of the active and the majority of the passive safety systems. The purpose of this study is to determine the characteristics of the rollovers produced by the GRP test device.

This study uses computer models to evaluate the GRP device’s performance. The GRP device attempts to subject vehicles to repeatable initial conditions using a guided maneuver of a forward motion followed by a gradually increasing curvature sufficient to roll most vehicles. The decreasing radius of turn causes a gradual increase in lateral acceleration to a point where the vehicle rolls over. This motion is similar to a J-turn induced rollover with the exception of the increase of the turn curvature angle. The test vehicle is carried on a cart with a tripping edge to eliminate the possibility of the vehicle slipping off and to remove the influence of vehicle and road characteristics such as tire properties or road-surface friction during rollover initiation. The cart follows a guided track. The vehicle is subjected to its own roll characteristics that define the dynamics and consequently the roof-to-ground contact.

Finite element (FE) simulation results for different vehicles, subjected to GRP induced motion, show promising dynamic responses and rollover initiation consistency. The passive safety systems, such as roof structure and occupant containment systems (including airbag deployments), and vehicle mechanical systems, such as the vehicle suspension, were assessed under dynamic rollover loading. The dummies were subjected to rollover kinematics similar to a J-Turn and were used to assess injury protection and ejection mitigation during the dynamic rollover test. The study results indicate that the test device is practicable and offers reasonable rollover conditions.