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Crash behavior in narrow object impacts was examined for the perimeter of a 4-door full size sedan. Additional test data was obtained for this vehicle by impacting four sedans with a rigid pole mounted to a massive moving barrier (MMB) in the front, right front oblique, right side, and rear. The vehicles were stationary when impacted by the MMB. Two of the four cars were repeatedly impacted with increasing closing speeds in the front and side, respectively. Each test was documented and the resulting deformation accurately measured. The stiffness characteristics were calculated for the perimeter of car and were presented using the power law damage analysis model. The vehicle's crash performance in these pole tests was compared to that of NHTSA's flat fixed barrier tests (deformable and non-deformable) for the front, side, and rear of this vehicle.

Damage analysis methods in accident reconstruction use an estimate of vehicle stiffness together with measured crush to calculate crush energy, closing speed, and vehicle delta-V. Stiffness is generally derived from barrier crash test data. The accident being reconstructed often involves one or more conditions for which vehicle stiffness is not well defined by existing crash tests. Massive moving barrier (MMB) testing is introduced as a tool to obtain additional and accident specific stiffness coefficients applicable for reconstruction. The MMB impacts a stationary vehicle of similar structure as the accident vehicle under accident-specific conditions like impact location, angle, over-ride / under-ride, offset and damage energy. A rigid or deformable structure is mounted to the front of the MMB, representative of the impacting structure in the accident. Four illustrative tests are presented.