Measurement of Frontal Aggressiveness

Two large cars exhibiting significant structural aggressiveness differences in frontal collisions were identified. These two cars were crashed into three different barriers to determine which measurements from the three barrier tests best correlated with the degree of aggressiveness of the large cars, and thereby provided the best measure of aggressiveness. The three barriers were the fixed rigid barrier (FRB), fixed load cell barrier (FLCB), and moving deformable barrier (MDB). Differences in responses of the two cars (acceleration pulse shape and duration, and maximum crush) were compared. Barrier load cell data from the FLCB collisions and honeycomb crush data from the MDB collisions revealed substantial differences in load distribution and time-phasing between the two cars. The importance of these differences relative to front structural aggressiveness measurement is discussed.