Offset Test Design and Preliminary Results

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is conducting a research program to investigate the feasibility of a high speed frontal offset deformable barrier (ODB) crash test to improve frontal occupant crash protection. The focus of the program is to reduce debilitating lower extremity injuries in frontal offset collisions. This paper discusses three areas of research in this program: new seating procedure, preliminary results of the new crash test, and an analysis of frontal stiffness characteristics of redesigned vehicles and their ODB test procedure performance. The new seating procedure uses Hybrid III male dummies fitted with Thor-LX/HIII legs (HIII50LX). A particularly challenging problem was the development of a test procedure with repeatable positioning of the Thor-LX/HIII feet with respect to the pedals in some vehicles. inversion/eversion was the primary failure mode of the ankle was. The kinematics and mechanism of this failure are examined. Preliminary data are presented that compare the frontal stiffness characteristics of vehicle models that were redesigned and used in both New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) and Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) crashworthiness rating programs. The potential impact of this on the compatibility of the light vehicle fleet is discussed.