Driver Restraint Systems: Assuring a Rational Level of Driver Safety

Document Number: 2002-01-3323

Date Published: December 2002

Author(s):
Richard Strout - Leading Edge Motorsport
Curt Tucker - Team Tech. Motorsports

Abstract:
By focusing solely on the question of safety harness failure, investigators and decision makers who act on the conclusions of those investigators can miss the point. The issues surrounding materials, design, installation and quality/reproducible performance are still being examined. The inherent assumption seems to be that if the harness breaks, it isn't doing its job. Instead, it can be argued, if the harness fails but the driver survives, the system has worked. In reality, failure can be a harness that stretches without breaking and injures the driver; while success may be a harness that tears after attenuating the g-loading long enough to protect the driver from traumatic injury or death. The pass-fail nature of the current specifications do not address individual components in the harnesses. The authors conclude from a series of crash tests conducted in the summer of 2002, there is enough variation in the real world of safety harness systems to call for more standardization in the manufacture and installation specifications.

File Size: 47K
Product Status: In Stock

Included in: P-382

See other papers presented at Motorsports Engineering Conference & Exhibition, December 2002, Indianapolis, IN, USA, Session: Safety: Driver Protection and Car Structure

Purchase more technical papers and save! With TechSelect, you decide what SAE Technical Papers you need, when you need them, and how much you want to pay. Learn more >