The Use of Single Moving Vehicle Testing to Duplicate the Dynamic Vehicle Response From Impacts Between Two Moving Vehicles

The Federal Side Impact Test Procedure prescribed by FMVSS 214, simulates a central, orthogonal intersection collision between two moving vehicles by impacting the side of the stationary test vehicle with a moving test buck in a crabbed configuration. While the pre- and post-impact speeds of the vehicles involved in an accident can not be duplicated using this method, closing speeds, vehicle damage, vehicle speed changes and vehicle accelerations can be duplicated. These are the important parameters for the examination of vehicle restraint system performance and the prediction of occupant injury. The acceptability of this method of testing is not as obvious for the reconstruction of accidents where the impact is non-central, or the angle of impact is not orthogonal.

This paper will examine the use of crash testing with a single moving vehicle to simulate oblique or non-central collisions between two moving vehicles. First, an accident where the left front corner of a left turning passenger car struck the left side of an oncoming passenger car is described. The results of a reconstruction of the accident will also be described. Next, simulations of the accident using the EDSMAC vehicle impact model included in the HVE-2D computer program developed by EDC Corporation are presented in which both vehicles are moving, only the struck vehicle is moving, and only the striking vehicle is moving. Finally, a full scale test will be presented in which only one of the vehicles is moving and the other vehicle is stationary during the impact. The results of the test and the simulations will be compared to the actual accident, and the effects of local vehicle geometry will be discussed.