Technical Paper
STEERING COLUMN MOVEMENT IN SEVERE FRONTAL CRASHES AND ITS POTENTIAL EFFECT ON AIRBAG PERFORMANCE
2001-06-04
2001-06-0230
Excessive movement of steering columns in crashes can significantly degrade the performance of restraints, especially airbags. Although steering column movement does not appear to be a major problem in full-width rigid barrier crashes, it can be an issue in other frontal crash types. Results from 106 frontal offset crash tests at 64 km/h (40 mi/h) were used to characterize different patterns of steering column intrusion for different vehicle types. Large movements of the steering column often were associated with the dummy’s head striking the steering wheel through the airbag. Some of the tested models were redesigned over the course of this testing, and comparisons with older designs showed that improving the structural integrity of the occupant compartment could lead to less longitudinal movement of the steering column, but this was not necessarily the case for vertical column movements for some models in the data set.