Citation

Bergmann R, Bremer C, Wang X, Ensslen A. Proc. Int. Tech. Conf. Enhanced Safety Vehicles 1996; 1996: 993-1009.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1996, In public domain, Publisher National Highway Traffic Safety Administration)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

In recent years more attention has been given to the side impact following the reductions made in the severity of frontal collisions in the past. The need for vehicle designs giving occupants a higher level of safety in the event of a side impact has also been recognised by the legislators and resulted in introduction of the standard FMVSS 214 dynamic in the USA in 1993. In 1998, the directive R95 was introduced in Europe, meaning that there will be two different international standards for the dynamic side impact test in the future. These standards differ enormously not only in their test conditions but also in the construction of the dummies and the biomechanical assessment criteria for the latter. In this respect, a vehicle manufacturer with worldwide activities such as Volkswagen AG is obliged to develop its new vehicles to meet the requirements of both the existing laws. At the same time, the requirements to be met by the vehicle which are revealed by the effects analysis of real accidents must, of course, not be overlooked. The development process is confronted with a large number of conflicting objectives resulting from different requirements. The changing basic conditions for vehicle development, such as reduction of development times, systematic use of lightweight designs etc., give rise to further requirements, which can only be met with the use of modern development tools. This paper discusses in detail design requirements for comprehensive side protection and necessary development methods and tools. In addition, the conflicting objectives of the various crash requirements encountered in the design process are described. Particular attention is paid to FEM structural computation and occupant simulation, and to components and vehicle testing.