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Much has been written about reconstruction techniques and testing methods concerning vehicle rollovers. To date, most of the literature describes rollovers as one-dimensional events. Rollovers account for a disproportionate fraction of serious injuries and fatalities among all motor vehicle accidents. The three-dimensional nature of rollover sequences in which a rolling vehicle experiences multiple ground contacts contributes to the environment where such injuries occur. An analytical technique is developed to model the airborne segments of a rollover sequence as a parabolic path of the vehicle center of gravity. A formulation for the center of gravity descent from maximum elevation to full ground contact is developed. This formulation contains variables that may be readily determined from a thorough reconstruction. Ultimately, this formulation will also provide a vertical ground impact velocity at contact.

This paper presents a detailed analysis and reconstruction of a real-world, high-speed yaw and rollover of a sport utility vehicle that occurred on paved and unpaved surfaces with uneven topography. A law enforcement videotape of the crash, along with detailed inspection and measurement of the subject vehicle and accident site, enabled quantitative analysis of the event. The physical evidence was correlated with video images of the real-world rollover to obtain detailed information of the rollover mechanics throughout the sequence. The initial speed of the vehicle was 79 mph and its speed at overturn was 54 mph. The vehicle rolled six revolutions. The average roll rate for the entire sequence was more than 300 degrees/second, with peak values approaching 540 degrees/second. The rollover deceleration was found to be non-uniform during the sequence, and ranged from approximately 0.6 g to 0.2 g.