Medium Duty North American Delivery Van Frontal Barrier Crash Test Data for Crash Reconstruction 2015-01-1420

Traditional accident reconstruction analysis methodologies include the study of the crush-energy relationship of vehicles. By analyzing the measured crush from a vehicle involved in a real world accident and comparing it to a test vehicle with a known energy, from a crash test, the real world vehicle's damage energy can be evaluated. In addition, the change-in-velocity (Delta-V) can be calculated. The largest source of publicly available crash tests is from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). NHTSA conducts numerous Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) compliance and New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) testing for many passenger vehicles for sale in the United States. The NHTSA crash test data is available for analysis, but the data set is limited to production vehicles that are manufactured in significant quantities and it contains virtually no data relating to medium-to-heavy duty vehicles

To date, there are no publically available controlled, full-scale, instrumented crash tests of any medium-duty, body-on-frame, delivery vans currently operating on North American roads. Accordingly, this series of full-scale crash tests of two medium-duty, body-on-frame, local vans will provide a basis for the analysis of the crush-energy relationship of these vehicles. This testing will also provide a basis for the study of the occupant kinematics experienced during these tests.