EVALUATION OF FRONTAL OFFSET/OBLIQUE CRASH TEST CONDITIONS

As part of the effort underway for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s long-term advanced frontal research program, crash data were analyzed to determine representative crash conditions for establishing more effective frontal crash test procedure(s). These crash conditions were then analyzed to determine their significance to injury causation. Crash conditions were defined by nine different configurations for vehicle-to-vehicle head-on collisions. These crash configurations were examined to determine if a relationship existed between crash type and occupant injury in terms of either severity or location of injury.

Detailed weighted and unweighted crash statistics in the United States were obtained from the Crashworthiness Data System (CDS), a component of the National Automotive Sampling System (NASS). Data from the CDS were collected from 1995 to 1999 to determine the importance of crash parameters in establishing an improved frontal crash test procedure(s). Several parameters were considered: principal direction of force (PDOF), impact orientation angle, overlap percentage, crush profile, and change in velocity (delta V). All vehicle-to-vehicle frontal two-car crashes in which the vehicles were inspected were used to establish baseline data. These baseline data were used to determine distribution of crash types and injuries. They were compiled to determine the number of moderate and severe injuries by crash condition. Data are presented to show the injury occurrence by crash type. The significance of these parameters were examined to determine their contribution to injury causation. Finally, selected crash tests were examined to determine the correlation of the dummy’s injury assessment measurements in these tests with occupant injuries from similar type crashes in the NASS data.