NHTSA'S (NATIONAL HIGHWAY TRAFFIC SAFETY ADMINISTRATION'S) IMPROVED FRONTAL PROTECTION RESEARCH PROGRAM

This paper reports on the status of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) research programme on Improved Frontal Protection. The programme is in the problem determination phase. Accident analysis is conducted: (1) to predict the injury producing crash environment for occupants with air bags; (2) to determine appropriate test conditions, dummy sizes and injury measures; and (3) to predict potential benefits. The interim findings are reported. Collinear and oblique, frontal, offset crash testing, at different widths of overlap, has been conducted with a standard "bullet" car into several current model "target" cars at speeds of about 60 or 65 kmph for each car. Dummy injury measurements and structural responses provide a basis for determining the most severe impact environment. At present, the Hybrid III with additional instumentation is the surrogate of choice. Additional instrumentation in the head, neck, thorax, pelvis and lower leg provide enhanced injury measures on the dummy. Three adult sizes of Hybrid III (5th percentile female and 50th and 95th percentile males) are used in testing in order to assess injury relationship with size. For the covering abstract of the conference see IRRD 875833.