Development of a High Deceleration Full Width Frontal Impact Test for Europe

To assess a vehicle's frontal impact crashworthiness an integrated set of test procedures is required that assesses both the car's self and partner (compatibility) protection. It has been recommended by the International Harmonisation of Research Activities (IHRA) frontal impact group that the set of test procedures should contain both full overlap and offset tests. Currently, in Europe only an offset test is used in regulation and consumer testing. In 2007, the European Enhanced Vehicle-safety Committee (EEVC) made a number of proposals for a set of test procedures, all of which contain full width and offset tests. This paper presents the work performed by the European Commission 6th framework APROSYS project to develop a full width test procedure for Europe. It also describes an initial cost benefit analysis for its introduction into the European regulatory regime. Accident analysis was performed using the UK CCIS and German GIDAS databases to help determine the test speed, what size dummies should be used and the relevance of including rear seated dummies in the test. A matrix of 12 full scale car crash tests was performed to determine the effect of including a deformable face, the effect of including rear seated occupants and to assess the test's repeatability and reproducibility. As all the tests were instrumented with a high resolution Load Cell Wall, the repeatability and reproducibility of proposed metrics to assess a car's compatibility were also assessed. The full text of this paper may be found at: http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/pdf/esv/esv21/09-0105.pdf For the covering abstract see ITRD E145407.