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Since its creation in 1996, Euroncap evaluated more than 80 cars, ranging from small and city cars, to larger vehicles such as executive cars and people carriers (MPVs). The testing protocol comprises 3 types of tests: a frontal offset test against a deformable barrier, a 90° lateral impact with a moving deformable barrier, and - since March 2000 - a pole side impact. In addition a set of subsystem tests with impactors on the bonnet and the front face of the car are conducted to assess the pedestrian protection. The aim of this paper is to review the testing and assessment protocols and to compare them with those used in other NCAP systems in the USA, Australia, Japan and Europe. In particular, important Euroncap issues such as the stiffness of heavier vehicles that could be increased in the future, and the nature and weight of the modifiers are discussed. Ways to improve the system are suggested in relation with real-world accident data.

Accident studies show that frontal collisions, both as regards the number of people killed and those seriously-injured, are by far the type of crash with the most serious consequences. In order to improve this situation, it is necessary to ensure that the means used to restrain occupants work as efficiently as possible, whilst preserving the occupant compartment and thus by eliminating intrusion on the occupant restrained by seat-belts and pretensioners. In frontal collisions where vehicle intrusion is minor, the main lesions caused to occupantss are thoracic, mainly rib fractures resulting from the seat-belt. In collisions where intrusion is substantial, the lower members are particularly vulnerable. In the coming years, we will see developments which include more solidly-built cars, as offset crash test procedures are widely used to evaluate the passive safety of production vehicles.

A new approach has been developed to facilitate the measurement of head angular acceleration in automobile crash tests. It consists of two parts: an array of 12 linear accelerometers mounted in a Hybrid III dummy head and an electronic signal processor mounted on the dummy spine. The accelerometer outputs are led to conventional data acquisition equipment and also to the signal processor which digitizes the raw acceleration signals, stores them, and computes the 3-D angular acceleration. This acceleration and the 3-D linear acceleration of the head c.g. are available in real time or post test. The equipment has been evaluated on a mini-sled, with various configurations of head loading and kinematics, and also in Hyge sled tests performed at 40 km/h with a 3 point belted Hybrid III dummy. The angular accelerations returned by the signal processor in both test settings corresponded closely to those computed off-line from the raw data.

Determining the angular acceleration of the head in automotive safety tests is one of the most important aspects of research on brain tolerance. For this purpose, a methodology combining various software packages and a specific accelerometer device has been developed at LPB-APR. The aim of the present publication is to evaluate this methodology for a variety of test-crash configurations, with or without head impact, i.e. frontal sled tests, steering wheel impacts and drop tests. The key feature of this study is the computing potential made possible by an accelerometer mount designed for the head of the Hybrid III dummy. In particular, the methodology developed allowed high angular acceleration levels to be computed, i.e. more than 15.000 rad/s2 in steering wheel impact. To confirm the results, examples of computing-measurement validation are given for each impact situation analyzed.

The European Side Impact Dummy “EUROSID”, and the Sid Impact Dummy “SID” were extensively tested in the frame of an experimental program conducted by the C.C.M.C. in Europe. The principal objective of this study was the evaluation of the biofidelity of both dummies according to impact response requirements selected by the ISO/TC22/SC12/WG5 experts, these requirements being, at the present the best and most updated technical informations available to assess the biofidelity of a dummy in side impact. The test matrix comprised 40 impactor tests, 75 free fall tests and 7 sled tests. Each dummy region covered by ISO requirements was tested. In this paper the performance of EUROSID and SID dummies are, on the basis of available results, compared with human response data proposed by ISO.

Although the neck is one of the least frequently injured body regions, it does play a considerable role in the solicitations of the head in side impact. It can, in fact, be said that the kinematic and dynamic conditions that govern, for instance, a head impact against a vehicle structure depend on the cervical segment. With a view to characterizing such conditions, i.e. head and neck responses, the LPB-APR conducted a research program including sled tests involving cadavers. These tests were conducted at a low and high G-level sled deceleration, respectively, with the low-violence tests being carried out following collaboration with the Naval Biodynamics Laboratory (New Orleans). Such tests enable direct comparison between volunteer data and cadaver data. The scope of this paper is to present a synthesis of the data obtained from LPB-APR low and high G-level tests, including, in particular, data obtained from new high severity tests.