Automotive structural design is influenced by the choice of a method for evaluating the protection level provided by a vehicle in frontal impact. This choice influences the vehicle's performance in real accidents.
This paper compares different reference frontal collisions; offset car-to-car impact with 50% overlap on the left side; 30° angled barrier impact on the left side with or without anti-slip system; offset half-barrier impact with 45% overlap on the left side; and impact against 0° angled barriers.
These different impact configurations are compared in terms of structure and test dummy injury criteria by main component analysis of the data. The configurations are evaluated from the viewpoint of representatives of real road conditions. The question is posed as to their influence on compatibility, especially in side collisions.