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Historically, the United States Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 208 (FMVSS No. 208) has used 50th percentile male dummies seated in the mid-track position to evaluate occupant protection in frontal crashes. As a result of field investigations of air bag-related fatalities and serious injuries involving short-stature female drivers, more recent research has focused on improving crash protection using the 5th percentile female dummy in a full-forward seat position. A series of 48 kmph (30 mph) full frontal rigid barrier crash tests were conducted with belted and unbelted 5th percentile female dummies in the full-forward seat position of Model Year (MY) 1999 vehicles with redesigned air bags (certified to the FMVSS No. 208 sled test). Tests were also conducted using identical vehicles with the 50th percentile male dummies seated mid-track.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is conducting a research program to investigate the use of the 40 percent offset deformable barrier (ODB) crash test procedure to reduce death and injury, in particular debilitating lower extremity injuries in frontal offset collisions. This paper presents the results of 22 ODB crash tests conducted with 50th percentile male and 5th percentile female Hybrid III (HIII) dummies fitted with advanced lower legs, Thor-Lx/HIIIr and Thor-FLx/HIIIr, to assess the potential for debilitating and costly lower limb injuries. This paper also begins to investigate the implications that the ODB test procedure may have for fleet compatibility by evaluating the results from vehicle-to-vehicle crash tests.