A Sled Test Methodology for 25% Offset Crash Tests

Sled crash tests are an important tool to develop automotive restraint systems. Compared with full-scale crash tests, the sled test has a shorter development cycle of the restraint system and lower cost. The objective of the present study is to create a cost-effective sled test methodology, calculate the optimal static yaw angle and loading curves, and analyze the motion response and injuries of the dummy in the small-offset crash test. The effectiveness of the proposed methodology was verified under two typical Small Overlap Frontal Crash (SOFC) modes “energy-absorption” and “sideswipe”. The results show that with the calculated yaw angle α, the head HIC was different from the SOFC model, but all remaining indices were within 5% of the injury criteria . All International Organization for Standardization (ISO) values between the combined accelerations of all parts of the dummy and those of the basic model exceeded 0.75, and some values were above 0.8. Therefore, the proposed sled test methodology in this study can be applied to evaluate the effectiveness of restraint systems in small-offset frontal crashes.