Development of Energy-Absorbing Steering Column Assembly for Small Passenger Cars

Mainly intended for small passenger cars which have more dimentional restrictions than large ones do, a new energy-absorbing column is developed utilizing frictional and plastic deformation resistance as absorbing means. This paper presents its design details, test results on various specifications and conditions, discussions on various factors which affect the performance, analysis of column compression both statically and dynamically, testing methods and equipments for components and complete assembly, confirming that its intended features of relatively low peak load and reasonable compression length has been achieved.