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One of the most common events of injuries and deaths in mining activities is the vehicle rollover, for example, the rollover of pickup trucks used to carry freight and workers through this environment or out of it. One way to prevent these fatalities is the use of rollover protective structures (ROPS) which are safety devices fitted internal or externally to vehicles in order to provide protection to driver and passengers during an accidental rollover. The design of these devices is quite complex since it must be carried out analytical and numerical analyses and finally experimental tests. This latest is destructive and expensive since it is necessary a specific apparatus mounted in a large test field. The most widely used test for rollover in the automotive industry is the FMVSS-208 (U.S. Government) or SAE J2114-2011.

An experimental study was carried out on two engines of different displacement, in order to analyze in detail the two most common methods for the determination of the top dead center. The direct method, in which the top dead center is obtained from direct measurement of the piston position was compared with the thermodynamic method, based on the pressure curve in the combustion chamber. The experimental results show that the thermodynamic method, is accurate.