The Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association Inc. (JAMA) has been working to promote crash safety measures and to evaluate the crash safety performance of heavy-duty trucks. The Japan Automobile Research Institute (JARI) has been studying these issues at the request of JAMA. “The Guidelines for Frontal Crash Test of Heavy-duty Trucks” were formulated as a first step1). Furthermore, crash tests of the latest heavy-duty trucks based on the guidelines were conducted. Equipped with the latest safety systems, each truck met all the judgments of the guidelines.
For further improvement of safety performance, it is necessary to study the specific causes of truck occupant injuries. Numerous truck driver fatalities have been caused in Japan by frontal collisions, in which the truck driver is often injured in the chest and the abdomen by the steering wheel. However, no evaluation techniques for such chest and abdominal injuries have yet been established. Moreover, truck drivers are often trapped in the truck cab in collisions.
Therefore, JARI has started evaluation of chest and abdominal injuries. Improvements in rescue performance were also studied beginning in 1999. Attempts were made in such injuries to measure the deflection of the sternum in more detail. Better rescue performance was examined by interviews with rescue teams.