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With a number of vehicles being developed in the country and implementation of safety standards becoming mandatory, proving of a vehicle for safety is becoming an area of high priority in India. Keeping this in view, a gravity sled facility has been established at ARAI for simulated crash testing. This paper describes the facility and its establishment as well as the development of suitable stopping devices to meet various applications. The risk of injury to the occupants in the event of crash is severe when structural deformation/breakage occurs in the vehicle interior, seat anchorages and the restraint systems. A simulated crash test facility such as sled is used for the development of these systems and their evaluation. This is the prescribed procedure for certification. Instead of using a complete vehicle crash facility, use of a simulated crash facility becomes cost effective. The simulated crash facility described here uses the gravity principle for acceleration of sled.

Weathering is the adverse response of a material or product to climate, often causing unwanted and premature product failure. The research and literature review shows that, in addition to the standard signaling devices, the retro-reflective marking is intended to increase the visibility (recognition) over a wide range of distances and for an easy identification of vehicles. The main characteristics of retro-reflective marking are Type of material, Coefficient of retro-reflection, Efficiency, Colour, Aging, Soiling, Shape and Pattern. Materials used for the retro reflective materials offer an impressive range of attractive properties, however the effect of weathering conditions on the durability and performance of these materials are not fully understood. The initial study conducted to provide degradation effect on retro reflective material due to weathering and its effect on road safety by simulating the weathering conditions in the laboratory as a part of accelerated tests.

Anthropometric data of a country is vital database for automotive design and other design applications. It is also an important parameter in population studies. Most developed countries have invested resources over the years to develop such a database and this information is accessed by many OEMs and major Design Houses. However, an updated and comprehensive Anthropometry of Indian Population is largely unknown. In the past, a few institutions have done projects to bring out a picture of the Indian Anthropometry. However, keeping in view the rapid industrialization and increase of India-specific designs which require an access to latest Anthropometric database, the project “SIZE INDIA” has been initiated. For the first time in India, a state of the art 3D Whole body scanner technology has been used and thereby large volume of data has been generated in a very short span of time.

Visibility through windscreen along with front lighting system is one of the most important elements of road safety. Windscreen also provides the good visibility to driver to drive safely during night time. As per the rule windscreen visual light transmission should be minimum 70%. Windshields are made-up of tinted glass which produces light transmission varying from 70% to 95%. Windscreen installation is various from vehicle to vehicle, the visual light transmittance at different installation angle and its effect to the visibility are not fully understood. Vehicle headlamps and front fog lamps are evaluated for the illumination without consideration of driver's visibility with the combination of wind screen and its installation angle. This paper describes the effect of different ranges of tinted wind shield glass on driver's visibility at various installation angle of windshield along with the headlamp illumination.