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The automotive aftermarket industry is an extremely cost competitive market to say the least. Aftermarket manufacturers are sought by customers primarily for their ability to replace an OES (Original Equipment Supplier) for a fraction of the cost. This forces the manufacturers to yield on performance abilities to get a share in the market place. The TWC system in gasoline vehicles not only acts as an emissions reduction device but is an integral part of the overall vehicle performance itself, especially since the introduction of OBD (On-Board Diagnostics) II systems in 1995. An inefficient catalyst not only leads to excessive tailpipe emissions but also acts detrimental to vehicle fueling and hence overall performance. The aftermarket catalyst industry which is regulated by EPA (United States Environmental Protection Agency) and CARB (California Air Resource Board) for gasoline engines is subject to meeting a mandatory performance standard for the same reason.

A current priority in Europe and the USA is the development of improved side collision dummies. This report presents the results of sled tests with three test subject types: cadavers (PMHS), EUROSID 1 and BIOSID. Twenty one (21) cadaver tests were performed and 9 dummy tests a piece. The left side of the test subjects were impacted under one of two different test conditions: 24 km/h rigid wall and 32 km/h padded wall. The cadavers were instrumented with a 12 thoracic, and triaxial pelvic accelerometer arrays. Thoracic deformation was calculated from rib accelerations. The dummies were instrumented in their standard formats, which included the ability to measure coronal plane thoracic deformation. For all test subject types and measurement locations the 3ms. acceleration standard deviations were low. Mean 3ms. accelerations showed no consistent relationship in magnitude between subject types. The measured dummy rib deformations were compared to the calculated cadaver deformations.