Experimental Testing of a 1994 Ford Taurus for NADSdyna Validation

As part of the National Advanced Driving Simulator (NADS) program, the Vehicle Research and Test Center (VRTC) in East Liberty, Ohio is evaluating the NADS vehicle dynamics software. As part of VRTC's effort, an extensive vehicle testing program to provide data for the simulation evaluation was performed. This paper describes VRTC's testing of a 1994 Ford Taurus GL passenger car. Each of the test maneuvers run by the Taurus are described, along with instrumentation setup, control actuation, test conditions, and driver procedures. The test data reduction and processing are detailed. Sample results of the testing and an analysis of test repeatability and measurement noise are also presented.