CAR CRASH TESTING AND SAFETY

By
ASHISH SARAVANAN
30/09/2004

INTRODUCTION TO AUTO SAFETY & CRASH TESTING

DEATH TOLL DUE TO ROAD ACCIDENTS: 1 million/year

SERIOUS INJURY INJURED : 5 million : 33 million

ORGANIZATIONS WHICH SET SAFETY STANDARDS: 1. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) 2. Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) 3. European NCAP

SAFETY DEVICES IN CARS AND THEIR FUNCTIONS

HEAD RESTRAINTS: To limit relative head and torso movements in rear end collisions.

AIR BAGS :They help keep your body from hitting hard objects during a collision. (Smart air bags)

SEAT BELTS: Restrain the speed and motion of the body during a crash. (Smart seat belts)

DETAILS OF HEAD REST

POSITION Centre of gravity of head or 3.5 inches from the top. Distance from the back of head should be less than four inches.

CRASH TESTS

Full-width frontal impact crash test Car hits a Concrete wall at 56 Kmph. impact on dummies head, chest and legs measured.. Test suitable for measuring effectiveness of air bags and seat belts. Damage to the vehicle is not assessed.

FRONTAL OFFSET CRASH TEST

40% of the width of the vehicle strikes the barrier on the driver's side (10% offset from the centerline)

vehicle runs into the barrier at 64 km/h

Lesser impact on the dummy as smaller portion of vehicle sustains all the damage. greater vehicle body deformation, suitable for determining injuries due to intrusions

SIDE IMPACT CRASH TEST

3,015-pound (1,368-kg) sled with a deformable "bumper" runs into the side of the test vehicle. The sled's tires are angled.

Speed of the car : 60 Kmph.

Test simulates a car being sideswiped by another at an intersection.

CRASH TEST DUMMIES THE TRUE HEROES

Purpose
The dummy's job is to simulate a human being during a crash. Collecting data which would not be possible with human occupants.

Construction
Dummy is built from materials that mimic the physiology of the human body. Sizes are varied and are referred to by percentile and gender. Fiftieth percentile dummy : Weighs 75 Kgs and is 1.78 m tall.

TYPES OF INSTRUMENTATIONS ON DUMMIES

Accelerometers Measure acceleration in a particular direction. Present in the head, chest, pelvis, legs, feet and other parts of the body . Measures in different directions: fore-aft, up-down, left-right.

Load sensors
Measure the force on different parts of the body during a crash.

Motion sensors Present in the chest of the dummy and measures the deflection of the chest.

The scan above shows the driver's chest deflection during a crash. In this particular crash, the driver's chest is compressed about 2 inches (46 mm). This injury would be painful, but probably not fatal.

CRASH TEST PAINTS

Another important aspect in the crash testing of cars is crash test paint'. Paints of different colors are applied to different parts of the dummy. During the crash test, If researchers note a particularly large acceleration in the data from the accelerometers in the dummy driver's head, the paint marks in the car will indicate what part of the body hit what part of the vehicle inside the cabin. This information helps researchers develop improvements to prevent that type of injury in future crashes.

The multicolored paint on the dummy shows where the different body parts hit the car.

The front passenger-side dummy's knees hit the dashboard during the crash. Also, note that nothing from the engine compartment penetrated the cabin. The engine on most cars is mounted so that in a crash, it is forced backwards and downward so that it won't come into the cabin.

ACTUAL CRASH TEST

Features of the crash test :

Car speed : 56 Kmph. Time taken by the car to stop : 0.1 Sec! Number of cameras : 15 shooting 1000 frames /sec. Pulley used to pull the car towards the wall.

A minivan in front of a barrier

A view of the front crushing

BEFORE

AFTER

OPERATION OF MECHANISMS DURING A CRASH

A crash is all about Kinetic energy.

During a crash the body decelerates from 56 Kmph to 0 kmph in a fraction of a second.

Mechanisms to remove the kinetic energy as slowly and evenly as possible.

Seat belts have pretensioners which tighten the belts immediately. Force limiters make sure the seat belts do not hurt the passenger. then the Air bags are deployed which protect the body from sharp objects and also reduce the kinetic energy.

REPORT SYSTEMS

NHTSA Follows a STAR rating system.

The 3 main criteria for star ratings are:

1. Head Injury Criteria (HIC) 2. Chest deceleration 3. Femur load

In order to receive a five-star rating, all three of these criteria must be

below the level that indicates a 10-percent chance of severe injury.

Ratings for Frontal-Impact Tests

# of Stars

Result

10% or lower chance of serious injury

11% to 20% chance of serious injury

21% to 35% chance of serious injury

36% to 45% chance of serious injury

46% or greater chance of serious injury

In side-impact crashes, there are two criteria: Thoracic Trauma Index (TTI) Lateral Pelvic Acceleration (LPA) To achieve a five-star rating in side-impact crashes, both criteria must be in the range that indicates less than a 5-percent chance of serious injury.
Ratings for Side-Impact Tests
# of Stars Result

5% or lower chance of serious injury

6% to 10% chance of serious injury

11% to 20% chance of serious injury

21% to 25% chance of serious injury

26% or greater chance of serious injury

A PIECE OF ADVICE:

Drive carefully, because on Indian roads, whatever you do, there is no guarantee of safety!!!

THANK YOU