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Eight full-scale collision experiments were conducted and 73 collision fire case studies were investigated to provide data relating to fuel system failure modes and susceptibility of fuel system designs to collision fires. Data regarding impact speeds, nature of injuries, and climatic conditions are included. Results of extensive laboratory experiments provide specific ignition conditions for common fuels and define ignition hazards of exhaust systems and electrical and lighting circuitry. The physics of crash fire atmospheres is described, including air quality, radiant and convective heat transfers, and the relationship between burn physiology and occupant escape time. Design concepts are suggested for limiting fuel spillages, ignition sources, and thermal stress to motorists.

The research techniques of instrumented full-scale collision experiments were applied to evaluate relative crash performances of smaller passenger vehicles colliding with larger vehicles. The larger vehicle weighed from 1.5-4 times as much as the smaller vehicle. The structure-overriding tendencies of larger vehicles in a particular collision were found to greatly influence the severity of exposure to injury for occupants of the smaller vehicle; relative strength of structures was similarly important. The crash safety of a motorist is shown to depend more on the use of adequate restraining devices than on the smallness of his car. Mismatched sizes of vehicles were crashed head-on, as well as in rear-end and intersection-type exposures. Analytical relationships of post-impact displacements as well as transducer and photographic instrumentation data are presented. Actual accident investigations were conducted which provided background preparation for this series of crash tests.