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The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is currently conducting research at the Vehicle Research and Test Center (VRTC) aimed at reducing the number of serious and fatal head injuries due to impact with vehicle upper interior structures. A modified Hybrid III dummy head is currently used to test head injury potential from impacts with vehicle upper interior structures. This headform is propelled into vehicle upper interior structures with the front of the head facing the structure. Head impacts with A-pillars, side roof rails, and B-pillars may occur without the vehicle occupant facing directly into the structure. Since this is the case, it was decided that a featureless free-motion headform should be developed. This headform would not give the appearance of a forehead impacting the side structures of the vehicle. This paper will present the design, development, and testing of a featureless free-motion headform.

In side impacts, injury to occupants is caused by the contact of the occupant with one or more of the various interior surfaces, or structures, of the vehicle for instance, a majority of thoracic injuries are due to an impact with the interior area of the door. Likewise, a large number of head injuries result from the head striking upper interior structures. It may be possible that a change in the stiffness characteristics of these upper interior structures could reduce their injury causing potential. The first step toward improvement is the measurement of existing structural characteristics and the relation of these to head impact responses. This report reviews an approach and hardware used to measure the upper interior stiffness characteristics of a few vehicles. Alternative methods of stiffness characterization are presented.

Thoracic injury to the near side occupant in a side collision is normally caused from contact with the struck vehicle's crushed side structure engaged by the striking vehicle's front end. Extensive research has already been done to investigate the effect that strengthening and padding struck vehicle side structure has on occupant safety. This study investigated the effect that altering the striking vehicle front end characteristics has on occupant safety in a side impact. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA) moving deformable barrier (MDB) was used to conduct 12 crash tests. Three different types of honeycomb barrier faces were used, each representing a front end characteristic change. These were a reduction in stiffness, a lowering and tapering of the hood profile, and a lowering of the bumper. The alterations were believed to represent achievable production vehicle changes.

An extensive research program to evaluate the feasibility of improved side impact protection has been conducted by the National Highway Traffic Administration. This program concentrated on the potential reduction in thoracic injuries to vehicle occupants in side impact. Test conditions, test procedures, and test hardware for evaluating thoracic side impact protection were defined, developed, and evaluated. Injury mitigation concepts which included vehicle structural modifications and the addition of padding to the inner door surface were developed and evaluated. Test results support the feasibility of providing significant improvements in thoracic side impact protection. In addition, side impact tests were conducted on ten production automobiles. Results from these tests indicated a relatively low injury potential for occupants in some vehicles and a very high injury potential for occupants in other vehicles.

A study is being conducted in which both component level and full scale crash tests are being compared. This report documents the approach selected for component level testing and the matrix selected for full scale crash testing. The hardware that was fabricated to conduct the component tests is shown and discussed. The component test results to date are discussed as to repeatability, durability and ability to discriminate between levels of safety.