Frontal Offset Crash Test Study Using 50th Percentile Male and 5th Percentile Female Dummies

In September of 1996, United States Congress directed the National Highway Traftic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to conduct a feasibility study toward establishing a Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) for frontal offset crash testing. Congress stated that these activities should reflect ongoing efforts to enhance ir ternational harmonization of safety standards. The offset c~.:.sh test work described herein is part of NHTSA’s uadertaking in response to the Congressional directive. This paper presents NHTSA’s initial results of offset testing where the test vehicle moves at a speed of 60 kmph into a fixed deformable barrier that overlaps 40 percent of the front of the vehicle. This test procedure essentially replicates that required by the European Union’s (EU) Directive 96/79 EC, “On the Protection of Occupants of Motor Vehicles in the Event of a Frontal Impact and Amending Directive 70/156/EEC,” which was adopted in December of 1996. Previous testing with this particular frontal offset procedure has suggested that the lower legs of the dummies show loads that exceed possible injury limits. One goal of this testing activity is to determine if the offset test at 60 kmph provides additional benefits beyond the FMVSS No. 208 full frontal barrier test at 48 kmph. In addition, the agency has been petitioned to use smaller size dummies in its testing to look for aspects of safety that are not evaluated by the traditional 50ti percentile male Hybrid III dummy. To facilitate the potential for adding the 5th percentile tc frontal testing and to evaluate the offset test with the 50th and 5’ percentile dummies, a series of eight crash tests was performed. In the eight crash tests, all the dummies were restrained with the safety belt systems. The three cars used in the crash testing were the Dodge Neon, Toyota Camry, and Ford Taurus. Background Safety experts have noted that lower extremity trauma is strongly associated with disability. Luchter found that in police reported tow away motor vehicles crashes in the USA lower extremity injuries resulted in 41 percent of life-years lost to injury and 17 percent of total societal costs. [l] Miller et al. estimated that lower limb injuries are the second largest component of nonfatal highway crash costs. They determined that, for drivers and right front seat passengers in frontal collisions with no rollover or ejection, lower limb injuries cost $8.2 billion per year. [2] Pletchen et al. studied the trauma of 143 belted drivers of Mercedes-Benz passenger cars and found that the trauma of the lower extremities was ranked second highest in injury costs. [3] Morgan et al. examined the 1979 1986 National Automotive Sampling System (NASS) file for frontal crashes and determined that lower extremity trauma covers about 26 percent of the total moderate or greater injuries (AIS 1 2 count) for both belted and unbelted occupants. [4] Stucki et al. studied the NASS crash data tiles for the years 1988 1993 and again found that, in frontal crashes, approximately 25 percent of AIS 1 2 injuries are to the lower extremities. [5] Grosch et al., of Daimler-Benz, studied passenger car intrusion in frontal crashes. For a passenger car to withstand vehicle intrusion, they believed that a passenger compartment must be sufficiently stiff. They suggested that, to minimize injury related to vehicle intrusion, it is essential to conduct appropriate crash tests such as offset collisions with an overlap of less than 40%. [6] PlanathSkogsmo et al., of Volvo, studied the differences in various types of frontal crash tests. From their study, they found that to assess the vehicle structural properties, either a severe partial overlap collision or Offset Deformable Barrier (ODB) tests can be used to complement he existing full frontal barrier test. [7] Also, in the United Kingdom, the Transport and Road Research laboratory conducted an investigation based on real world crashes. They indicated that, despite the use of seat belts, frontal impacts pose the greatest hreat to car occupants due to vehicle intrusion. In