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Accident reconstructionists and others use airbag non-deployment thresholds as an indicator of severity in minor- to moderate-severity accidents. The National Automotive Sampling System (NASS) has accessed and recorded the data stored in the airbag control modules of nearly 6,300 vehicles since 2000 and has made these data publicly available. The goal of this study is to ascertain thresholds from the data based on delta-V and seatbelt use, studying how they may differ among manufacturers and over time. Other data is also examined, such as seatbelt pre-tensioner fire times and airbag deployment signal times. These data have been analyzed for use in accident reconstruction for vehicles which may or may not be supported by a publicly available module download tool. While manufacturers at one point published deployment data in owner's manuals, this has not been the case for approximately five to ten years.

Hydraulic systems pose a particular problem for noise control. Due to the high speed of sound in hydraulic fluids, components typically designed to reduce fluid-borne noise can easily exceed practical size constraints. This paper presents novel solutions to creating compact and effective noise control devices for fluid power systems. A hydraulic silencer is presented that utilizes a voided polymer lining in lieu of a pressurized bladder. Theoretical modeling is developed which predicts device performance and can assist in future design work. Experimental results are presented to demonstrate the performance of the device. Both voided and non-voided liners are tested to show the effect of the voiding on the performance. In addition, theoretical modeling and experimental results are presented for a prototype Helmholtz resonator that is two orders of magnitude smaller than previously developed devices.