Historically, assessments of frontal crash safety have been based primarily on the measured responses of 50th percentile male dummies in relatively high speed vehicle crashes against a rigid flat barrier. Under such test conditions, the ability of supplementary airbag systems to greatly reduce head injury potential is clearly evident in crash tests performed by Transport Canada and others. Howe...

A finite element automobile model for use in crash safety studies was developed through reverse engineering. The model was designed for calculating the response of the automobile structure during full frontal, offset frontal, or side impacts. The reverse engineering process involves the digitization of component surfaces as the vehicle is dismantled, the meshing and reassembly of these componen...

The Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) started in 1992, based on a crash test program introduced by the US government in the 1970s. In 1993 ANCAP became the first organisation to introduce the frontal offset crash test. Subsequently various “NCAPs” have started in Europe, Japan and Korea, as well as at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety in the USA. In 1999 ANCAP (then Austr...

When designing wheelchairs for use as motor vehicle seats, special design criteria must be followed to assure the crash safety of the wheelchair user. Failure of seating system components under crash loading conditions could lead to serious injury or fatality. In this study, seat and seat-back loading in a frontal crash are explored using computer simulation techniques. A previously validated s...

When designing wheelchairs for use as motor vehicle seats, special design criteria must be followed to assure the crash safety of the wheelchair user. Failure of seating system components under crash loading conditions could lead to serious injury or fatality. In this study, seat and seat-back loading in a frontal crash are explored using computer simulation techniques . A previously validated ...

The US Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard for frontal protection requires vehicle crash tests into a rigid barrier with two belted dummies in the front seats. The standard was recently modified to require two separate 56 Kph frontal tests. In one test the dummies are 50% males. In the other test, the dummies are 5% females. Analysis of crash test data indicates that the 56 Kph test does not ...

Proper securement of wheelchairs in motor vehicles is vital to providing wheelchair users an adequate level of safety in a crash. Thus far, wheelchair tiedown and occupant restraint systems (WTORS) loading has mostly been examined under frontal impact conditions. Because of the inherent crash dynamic differences, rear-impact loading of WTORS is expected to differ greatly. In this study, three i...

Crash data from real-life frontal car collisions, where the crash pulses have been measured with crash pulse recorders and where the influence of pulse shape on the risk of both shortand long-term disability from AIS 1 neck injuries, have been studied. The risk of long-term consequences was especially influenced by the shape of the crash pulse. To understand how the shape of the crash pulse aff...

In the literature frontal crashes typically have been classified as full, large overlap, or small overlap impacts (SOI) in accordance with the degree of frontal area involvement. These classifications implicitly refer to the degree of longitudinal structure engagement during impact. While full and large overlap impacts have received considerable attention, SOI has undergone limited analyses thr...