Citation

Thomson R, Edwards M. Proc. Int. Tech. Conf. Enhanced Safety Vehicles 2005; 2005: 14p.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2005, In public domain, Publisher National Highway Traffic Safety Administration)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The project “Improvement of Vehicle Crash Compatibility through the Development of Crash Test Procedures” (VC-Compat) is a research activity sponsored under the European Commission 5th Framework Programme. It consists of two parallel research activities, one focusing on car-to-car compatibility and the other on car-to-truck compatibility. The main objective of the car-to-car research is the development of crash test procedures to assess frontal impact crash compatibility. The car-to-truck objective is to develop test methods to assess energy absorbing frontal underrun protection for trucks. The midterm project status of the car-to-car work program is reported in this paper. A survey of European passenger vehicles has been conducted to construct a database of common crashworthiness structures. A review of the detailed accident databases in Germany and the UK has been used to identify a target population of accident victims that could benefit from improved vehicle compatibility. Testing and modelling activities have been conducted to improve the understanding of the relationship between crash behaviour in the candidate test procedures and car-to-car crashes. These research activities are helping to develop and evaluate candidate test procedures. To date, work has focused on the Full Width Deformable Barrier (FWDB) and Progressive Deformable Barrier (PDB) tests, which use two different approaches to assess a car’s compatibility. The FWDB test uses load cell wall force measurements whereas the PDB test uses barrier deformation measurements. The activities described herein will continue throughout the project and lead to draft test procedures with performance criteria and limits.