Regulatory and consumerism discussions currently take place on the definition of a pole impact that could be representative of car accidents in order to better protect the occupants.
Two main test protocols are in competition: the FMVSS 214 one and the current Euro NCAP one. France, taking part of the discussion in WP29 GRSP, provided accident data as well as cost benefit study.
To supply data for this debate, PSA Peugeot Citroën carried out physical tests on different car platforms with the two types of impact:
With the results of these tests, numerical models were improved to get correlated models.
Then, the correlated models were used to define the optimized technical solutions needed on the 75°/32 km/h test to get back to the same intrusion level as the 90°/29 km/h.
It is therefore possible to quantify the cost of this test if it becomes mandatory for Europe or for another country (eg. China). In addition, accident data analysis assesses the possible benefits for the European roads. This paper presents these data as well as the detailed analysis made by PSA Peugeot Citroën to establish the additional cost (in terms of Euros but also of kilograms) if the discussion ends to the selection of the FMVSS214 compared to the selection of the Euro NCAP test protocol. The overall conclusion is that there is no justification of such a test for Europe when comparing the costs with the benefits.