On behalf of the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR), the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) is performing research to support the review of the European frontal and side impact Directives. This research is contributing to the work of the European Enhanced Vehicle-safety Committee (EEVC) frontal and side impact working groups. The aim of the DETR project is to conduct a general review focusing on the major issues identified in the Articles of the Directives. These are test speed, neck injury criteria and extension to NI vehicles for frontal impact; and test speed, seating position, barrier height and the use of Viscous Criterion for side impact. In addition, the necessity for a side impact pole test is being considered. A comprehensive analysis of the results from the European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP) crash tests has been used to review the applicability of the current injury criteria, car structural performance requirements and test configuration. This is backed up with accident analysis using data from the UK Co-operative Crash Injury Study (CCIS) and a recent accident analysis partly funded by the European Commission. Full scale car crash testing is being used to help substantiate the findings of the study. (A)