Repeatability of a Dynamic Rollover Test System

Rollover accidents have the highest serious to fatal injury rates of any accident mode. Research and development on rollover occupant protection has been frustrated by the lack of a low cost, controlled, repeatable, dynamic test. The most widely used tests, dolly and CRIS system rollovers, do not meet all of these conditions, but the Jordan Rollover System (JRS) does. This study demonstrates JRS repeatability using three identical production vehicles with anthropomorphic test dummies. The first test of each vehicle used string potentiometers to measure roof performance. The second used both string potentiometers and an instrumented test dummy. The JRS test parameters, roof structural performance, and Hybrid III dummy injury measures were all shown to be highly repeatable with variation generally not more than 10 percent. The dummy and vehicle repeatability was on par with the repeatability shown in similar crash test studies conducted by IIHS and NHTSA.