Measurement of Vehicle Response in Severe Braking and Steering Maneuvers

A set of safety-relevant performance qualities for the passenger car has been defined as a first step in the development of objective measures of precrash safety performance. Measures were sought that stress the performance produced by a passenger vehicle when it is operated under emergency crash-avoidance conditions. This goal has led to the identification of six limit maneuvers and associated limit responses to serve as a first-order means of assessing the safety quality of a motor vehicle. The viability and the discriminatory power of the proposed test procedures have been demonstrated by applying these procedures to four separate vehicles.