VARIABILITY OF HYBRID III CLEARANCE DIMENSIONS WITHIN THE FMVSS (FEDERAL MOTOR VEHICLE SAFETY STANDARD) 208 AND NCAP (NEW CAR ASSESSMENT PROGRAM) VEHICLE TEST FLEETS AND THE EFFECTS OF CLEARANCE DIMENSIONS ON DUMMY IMPACT RESPONSES

Locations of key body segments of Hybrid III dummies used in Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) 208 compliance tests and New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) tests were measured and subjected to statistical analysis. Mean clearance dimensions and their standard deviations for selected body segments of driver and passenger occupants with respect to selected vehicle surfaces were determined for several vehicle classes. These occupant locations were investigated for correlation with impact responses measured in crash tests and by using a three dimensional human-dummy mathematical model in comparable settings. Based on these data, the importance of some of the clearance dimensions between the dummy and the vehicle surfaces was determined. The study also compares observed Hybrid III dummy positions within selected vehicles with real world occupant positions reported in published literature. (A) For the covering abstract of the conference see IRRD 882980.