Background: The Indian automobile industry, including the auto component industry, is a significant part of the country’s economy and has experienced growth over the years. India is now the world’s 3rd largest passenger car market and the world’s second-largest two-wheeler market. Along with the boon, the bane of road accident fatalities is also a reality that needs urgent attention, as per a study titled ‘Estimation of Socio-Economic Loss due to Road Traffic Accidents in India’, the socio-economic loss due to road accidents is estimated to be around 0.55% to 1.35% of India’s GDP [27] Ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH) accident data shows that the total number of fatalities on the road are the highest (in number terms) in the world. Though passenger car occupant fatalities have decreased over the years, the fatalities of vulnerable road users are showing an increasing trend. India has committed to reduce road fatalities by 50% by 2030. In this context, the automotive industry as well as MoRTH have been taking multiple initiatives including those related to vehicular and road engineering as well as educational measures for raising awareness in the field of road safety.
With the intent of lowering road traffic accidents, the government and the ministry are constantly upgrading the requirements related to vehicles, infrastructures, and their implementation thereof. In this context, various future regulations are being deliberated. One such regulation in discussion pertains to requirements for the protection of the passenger car occupants in the event of a full-frontal collision with a focus on restraint systems (AIS 201). This will push manufacturers to design more sophisticated restraints that would help to reduce restraint-induced injuries. The draft version of the standard is available for public input/ discussion.
The key objective of the study documented herein is to consider various aspects of the draft standard (AIS 201) from the Indian perspective. This study investigates the research questions, enumerated below:
- 1
What should be the appropriate test speed for the full-frontal test based on Indian accident data?
- 2
What is the suitable dummy configuration in terms of gender, seating position, and age to maximize occupant safety in full frontal accidents?
- 3
Is the proposed ATD’s anthropometry (weight and height) suitable, based on the people involved in full frontal cases in India?
- 4
What are occupant injury attributes in full-frontal accidents?
Key findings/ expected research findings: India has a very different mix of road traffic users and road traffic fatalities compared to that in Europe (Refer to Table 1). Further, issues like seat belt usage are of utmost concern. The demographic for India is also very different from those of developed economies. With India being a country with a rather young population, male and female dummies for driver and front passenger positions should be looked upon. This calls for India-specific safety regulations and research work on automotive test dummies.
Practical implications: The study can potentially provide a suggestion for alignment of the regulatory requirements with the actual situations, thereby increasing the effectiveness of the standard.