Citation

Accid. Reconstr. J. 2011; 21(1): 29-30.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2011, Accident Reconstruction Journal)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This article reports on three vehicle-to-pole, side-impact crash tests conducted as part of a series of crash tests in which a vehicle was propelled sideways at approximately 20mph into a fixed pole. The primary focus of these tests was to evaluate the effectiveness of side air bags. The results of tests on the 2007-2010 model year vehicles are being presented in different issues of the Accident Reconstruction Journal; this issue reports on the 2007 Nissan Versa, 2008 Chevrolet Impala, and 2010 Honda Insight LX. The article includes a table summarizing the test results, as well as full-color photographs for each of the three vehicles. The author briefly discusses some of the difficulties of measuring damage from this impact configuration, primarily because of the angles and the original profile of the vehicle. In general, it appears the one inch of maximum crush approximately equates to just over one mile per hour of impact speed for most vehicles.