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The introduction of the new NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) oblique test configuration presents a new and critical load case that manufacturers are on the way to solving. Towards providing the best tools for passive safety development, this paper presents the work carried out to enable the analysis of the loads transmitted to the barrier in this kind of test. These data enable the identification of the elements of the vehicle that take part in the absorption of energy during the crash and are a valuable tool to improving the safety of vehicles by comparing the loads transmitted to the barrier in oblique tests. To record these data, a load cell wall system located between the deformable barrier and the trolley was installed. To assess the barrier design, one oblique test with the RMDB barrier was carried out. The deformable barrier for the oblique test is instrumented with 9 columns of 3 and 4 load cells with a total of 32 x-axial load cells.

In recent past years, the most important challenges for car manufacturers in terms of crashworthiness have been related to the introduction of the Frontal Small Overlap crash test promoted by the IIHS. The introduction of this new configuration presents a new and critical load case that manufacturers are on the way to solving. Now, with several OEM's starting to achieve good results, a new configuration is being studied for introduction: the frontal oblique crash test against a deformable barrier based on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) proposal in the US. Towards providing the best tools for passive safety development, a tool to enable the analysis of the loads transmitted to the barrier in both tests has been developed.