The Volvo digital accident research recorder (DARR) converting accident DARR-pulses into different impact severity measures

Andersson, Ulrika<sup>1</sup>; Koch, Magnus<sup>1</sup>; Norin, Hans<sup>1</sup>

A crash recorder function is included in the airbag sensor in Volvo cars. The recorder’s performance is validated in laboratory tests. In accidents with airbag deployment the impact data is stored in a memory. So far, about 250 accident impact pulses have been collected, 32 of these were selected for further study. Analysis of the pulses offers new insights on the collision dynamics. Impact severity indices were studied. Data now permits a comparison between occupant simulation models and several violence descriptors. Even if actual injuries are too limited to permit a deeper analysis now, it is expected that in the future the results will increase the knowledge of the relationship between impact severity and occupant injury.

Year

Entry

1992

Norin H, Isaksson-Hellman I. Injury potential prediction of a safety design feature: a theoretical method based on simulations and traffic accident data. In: Proceedings of the 1992 International IRCOBI Conference on the Biomechanics of Impact. September 9-11, 1992; Verona, Italy.121-132.

1995

Instrumentation for impact test, I: electronic instrumentation. Society for Automotive Engineers International; March 1995. SAE J211-1.

1989

Korner J. A method for evaluating occupant protection by correlating accident data with laboratory test data. In: Proceedings of the SAE International Congress & Exposition. February 27–March 3, 1989; Detroit, MI. Warrendale, PA: Society of Automotive Engineers. SAE 890747.

Year

Entry

2012

Stigson H, Kullgren A, Rosén E. Injury risk functions in frontal impacts using data from crash pulse recorders. In: 56th Annual Proceedings, Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine (AAAM). October 14-17, 2012; Seattle, WA.267-276.