What Can Be Expected from Side Impact Standards

In the United States as well as in Europe standard test procedures for car occupants protection in side impact accidents are discussed. These procedures correspond to a new approach for side impact protection; both are based on full scale test, but with different parameters for its definition. A test procedure is necessarely a compromise between a fidelic representation of accidents and simplicity for a good repeatability. As the application of a procedure would improve the protection offered to car occupants in real accidents, it seems important to evaluate the benefits which could be expected from its use by comparison of the procedure parameters with the description of the accidents.