Applicability of the EES-Accident Reconstruction Method with MacCar©

This paper describes a method for vehicle collision reconstruction that was developed in West Germany. The method or algorithm has been simplified in it's use and application for persons without a sophisticated mathematical or physics background by adapting or programming the algorithm to run on a personal computer. The input data required, the variations and influence on results and the various stages of the computer output are explained and discussed.

Applications of the program are given to demonstrate the practicality, using real world examples/crashes. In addition to this a car to car test (one of many used to validate the program) where all the crash parameters and results were known, is given to further demonstrate the proof of the reconstruction method.

The primary difference between MacCAR© and CRASH3 is the abilty of MacCAR© to reconstruct impact speeds in glancing impacts.

The program was first introduced at SAE in 1985¹ as EES-ARM (EES = Energy Equivalent Speed. ARM = Accident Reconstrucion Method) and programed to run on the Macintosh® computer (Apple Inc.). Since then the metric program has been revised to use “English” units of measure and also programed to run on IBM-PC compatible equipment. The new versions were renamed MacCAR© and PC-CAR©. PC-CAR© will not be available in the U.S. for several months.