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The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is conducting a research program to investigate the crash compatibility of passenger cars, light trucks and vans (LTV’s) in vehicle-to-vehicle collisions. NHTSA has conducted a series of eight full-scale vehicle-to-vehicle crash tests to evaluate vehicle compatibility issues. Tests were conducted using four bullet vehicles representing different vehicle classes striking a mid-size sedan in both side and oblique frontal crash configurations. The test results show a good correlation between vehicle aggressivity metrics and injury parameters measured in the struck car for the frontal offset tests, but not for the side impact tests.

School bus travel is one of the safest forms of transportation, yet each year an average of nine school bus occupants are fatally injured in school bus crashes. Although much has been done to improve the safety of school buses over the years, more research may reflect new ways to better protect school bus occupants. Current school bus occupant protection is based on a concept called compartmentalization, meaning that the seats are closely spaced together, high backed, well padded, and are designed to absorb energy during a crash. Although this design works well in frontal impacts, compartmentalization may not protect occupants as well in side impacts and rollovers.