Injuries to the right, front seat passengear ccount for nearly one-quarter of the total harm to passenger car occupants. Approximately half of this harm is associated with frontal impacts.

The objective of the frontal crashworthiness research and development effort at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is to assess the safety problem associated with occupants of passenger cars involved in frontal impacts and to identify potential remedies for the problem. The focus of this paper is on passenger protection. Several other reports within the frontal crashworthiness program have focused on driver protection and vchicle structures.

Accident data, laboratory component data, sled and crash test data, and analytical simulation efforts form the basis for the definition oI the passenger protection safety problem and the identification of alternative countermeasures. This paper presents the progress and results in each of the areas related to this program:​

• The NHTSA's accident data files are being utilized to characterize the crash conditions and resulting injuries associated with right, front seat passengers. The head/face body region accounts for approximately one-third of the harm to passengers. The chest and abdominal body regions also account for approximately one-third of the harm. Lower extremities account for 16% of the harm.
• The MVMA 2-D Model is being implemented to simulate the crash environment described by the accident data to better nnderstand the injury mechanisms and to test the effectiveness of alternative countermeasures. A case study is presented and the results indicate that the lower portion of the instrument panel is an important component in managing the forward kinetic energy of an impacting occupant.
• An extensive laboratory effort is underway to characterize the material properties and geometry of the primary interior components associated with injury causation - instrument panels, windshields, headers, and A-pillars This data is providing input data for the MVMA 2-D model and in identifying countermeasures. Examples of typical force-deflection characteristics are illustrated.