Since 2003, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has rated side impact crashworthiness based on tests involving a 1,500 kg moving deformable barrier (MDB) with the geometry of pickups and SUVs (LTVs) striking the side occupant compartment of a stationary vehicle with driver and rear passenger SID-IIs dummies. Previous examinations of real-world side crashes revealed that one quarter of 2016 side crash fatalities were in good-rated vehicles, suggesting that more improvements in side crashworthiness may be necessary. Research focused on injured occupants suggests that a higher severity test in a similar configuration may be the most effective at driving continued crashworthiness improvements relevant in real-world crashes. This study investigates how well the IIHS MDB impact and injury patterns replicate those observed in modern striking LTVs in a higher severity laboratory test.

Four recently designed good-rated vehicles were impacted by an MDB, a pickup, and an SUV at 50 km/h and 60 km/h. Two vehicles, the Toyota Camry and Volkswagen Atlas, were chosen because they had very low structural intrusion measures at the B-pillar in the current (or established) IIHS test, with 22 and 32 cm of survival space for the driver, respectively. Two vehicles, the Honda Accord and Infiniti QX50, were chosen because their survival space measures were on the borderline of a good/acceptable rating, with 14 cm and 15 cm of survival space, respectively.

Data collection included external and internal measurements along the side structures of the vehicles. All other measures and test setup were conducted according to the current IIHS side test protocol. Observations from the crash tests were compared with real-world higher severity crashes involving good-rated vehicles with configurations like the IIHS test to understand the potential real-world benefit of a new crash test configuration.

The MDB produced vehicle kinematics, deformation, and injury patterns that were not representative of striking LTVs. LTVs loaded the struck vehicles with force concentrations at the striking vehicle’s front longitudinal structures while MDBs loaded vehicles more uniformly, both vertically and laterally. Dummy injury patterns were consistent with the deformation patterns;​ elevated pelvis/femur injury risk was present when struck by the LTVs and elevated head and chest injury risk was present when struck by the MDB.

The four good-rated vehicles exhibited a range of performance when struck by the LTVs, suggesting that a different test configuration, speed, or crash partner may highlight those differences in performance among the current good- rated vehicles. Additionally, MDB tests at 60 km/h revealed dimensional limitations of the barrier that must be addressed prior to further higher speed barrier research.

The current research suggests that increases in severity – mass or speed – of the current MDB would not necessarily encourage vehicle countermeasures that would confer benefit to occupants in real-world side impacts. To encourage relevant real-world design changes, the MDB must be redesigned to replicate the damage and injury patterns of current LTVs in a field-representative impact condition. This test configuration could potentially address an additional 10% of real-world, injury-causing side crashes.