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The SAE J300 classification was expanded to 0W-12 and 0W-8 viscosity grades in 2015, and lower viscosity engine oils have been studied in the industry. ILSAC GF-6B that will be introduced in 2020 will specify a 0W-16 requirement, but 0W-12 and 0W-8 grades are not considered. Because engine oil equal to or higher than the 0W-20 grade is recommended for almost all engines globally, suitable engine tests for 0W-12 and 0W-8 do not exist. Therefore, the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association, Petroleum Association of Japan and Society of Automotive Engineers of Japan decided to establish new 0W-12 and 0W-8 low viscosity engine oil specifications. It is referred to as JASO GLV-1, and together with a new fuel economy engine test procedure, these engine oils for better fuel economy will be put on the Japanese market in 2019. Motoring friction torque tests are widely used to ascertain the friction reduction effect of fuel-economy engine oils.

The advanced Pedestrian Legform Impactor (aPLI) incorporates a number of enhancements for improved lower limb injury prediction capability with respect to its predecessor, the FlexPLI. The aPLI also incorporates a simplified upper body part (SUBP), connected to the lower limb via a mechanical hip joint, that expands the impactor’s applicability to evaluate pedestrian’s lower limb injury risk also in high-bumper cars.As the aPLI has been developed to be used in standardized testing, further considerations on the impactor’s manufacturability, robustness, durability, usability, and repeatability need to be accounted for.. The aim of this study is to define and verify, by means of numerical analysis, a battery of design modifications that may simplify the manufacturing and use of physical aPLIs, without reducing the impactors’ biofidelity. Eight candidate parameters were investigated in a two-step numerical analysis.

This study addresses the virtual optimization of the technical specifications for a recently developed Advanced Pedestrian Legform Impactor (aPLI). The aPLI incorporates a number of enhancements for improved lower limb injury predictability with respect to its predecessor, the FlexPLI. It also incorporates an attached Simplified Upper Body Part (SUBP) that enables the impactor’s applicability to evaluate pedestrian’s lower limb injury risk also with high-bumper cars. The response surface methodology was applied to optimize both the aPLI’s lower limb and SUBP specifications, while imposing a total mass upper limit of 25 kg that complies with international standards for maximum weight lifting allowed for a single operator in the laboratory setting. All parameters were virtually optimized considering variable interaction, which proved critical to avoid misleading specifications.

In applying the ISO 26262 controllability classification for motorcycles in actual riding tests, a subjective evaluation by expert riders is considered to be the appropriate approach from the viewpoint of safety. We studied the construction of an expert-rider-based C class evaluation method for motorcycles and developed some evaluation test cases reproducing various hazardous events. We determined that it was necessary to accumulate more evaluation cases for further representative scenarios and that, to avoid variations in such evaluations, a method in which different expert riders can carry out testing following a common understanding had to be devised. Considering these problems for practical application, this study aimed at establishing an actual riding test method for C class evaluation by expert riders and to develop a deeper understanding of test procedures and management.

ISO 26262, an international functional safety standard of electrical and/or electronic systems (E/E systems) for motor vehicles, was published in November 2011 and it is expected that the scope will be extended to motorcycles in a second edition of ISO 26262 going to be published in 2018. ISO/DIS 26262 second edition published in 2016 has Part 12 as a new part in order to apply ISO 26262 to motorcycle. Proper estimation of Exposure, Controllability, and Severity in accordance with ISO/DIS 26262 Part 12, are key factors to determine Motorcycle Safety Integrity Level. To estimate precise these factors, there would be a case that it might not be appropriate to apply studies done for passenger car to motorcycle, and it would be necessary to apply motorcycle specific knowledge and estimation methods. In our previous studies we clarified these motorcycle specific issues and studied the method for the adaptation.

ISO 26262 was established in 2011 as a functional safety standard for road vehicles. This standard provides safety requirements according to ASIL (Automotive Safety Integrity Level) in order to avoid unreasonable residual risk caused by malfunctioning behavior of electrical and/or electronic systems. The ASIL is determined by considering the estimate of three factors including injury severity. While applicable only to passenger cars at present, motorcycles will be included in the scope of application of ISO 26262 in the next revision. Therefore, our previous study focused on severity class evaluation for motorcycles. A method of classifying injury severity according to vehicle speed was developed on the basis of accident data. In addition, a severity table for motorcycles was created using accident data in representative collision configurations involved with motorcycles in Japan.

ISO 26262, an international functional safety standard of electrical and/or electronic systems (E/E systems) for motor vehicles, was published in November 2011 and it is expected that the scope will be extended to motorcycles in a second edition of ISO 26262 going to be published in 2018. In order to apply ISO 26262 to motorcycle, proper estimation of Exposure, Controllability, and Severity are key factors to determine Motorcycle Safety Integrity Level (MSIL). Exposure is a factor to indicate the probability of the state of an operational situation that can be hazardous with the E/E system malfunction. And it is not easy to estimate the motorcycle Exposure due to less availability of back ground data in actual operational situation compared to motor vehicle. Therefore real traffic situation should be investigated in order to provide rationales for MSIL determination.

ISO 26262 was established in 2011 as a functional safety standard for passenger cars. In this standard, ASILs (Automotive Safety Integrity Levels) representing safety levels for passenger cars are determined by evaluating the hazardous events associated with each item constituting an electrical and/or electronic safety-related system according to three evaluation criteria including injury severity. On the other hand, motorcycles will be included in the scope of application of ISO 26262 in the next revision. It is expected that a severity evaluation for motorcycles will be needed because motorcycles are clearly different from passenger cars in vehicle mass and structure. Therefore, this study focused on severity class evaluation for motorcycles. A method of classifying injury severity according to vehicle speed was developed on the basis of accident data.

Current legform impact test methods using the FlexPLI have been developed to protect pedestrians from lower limb injuries in collisions with low-bumper vehicles. For this type of vehicles, the influence of the upper body on the bending load generated in the lower limb is compensated by setting the impact height of the FlexPLI 50 mm above that of pedestrians. However, neither the effectiveness of the compensation method of the FlexPLI nor the influence of the upper body on the bending load generated in the lower limb of a pedestrian has been clarified with high-bumper vehicles. In this study, therefore, two computer simulation analyses were conducted in order to analyze: (1) The influence of the upper body on the bending load generated in the lower limb of a pedestrian when impacted by high-bumper vehicles and (2) The effectiveness of the compensation method for the lack of the upper body by increasing impact height of the FlexPLI for high-bumper vehicles.

Electric vehicles have become more popular and may be involved in fires due to accidents. However, characteristics of fires in electric vehicles are not yet fully understood. The electrolytic solution of lithium-battery vehicles is inflammable, so combustion characteristics and gases generated may differ from those of gasoline cars. Therefore, we conducted fire tests on lithium-ion battery vehicles and gasoline vehicles and investigated the differences in combustion characteristics and gases generated. The fire tests revealed some differences in combustion characteristics. For example, in lithium-ion battery vehicles, the battery temperature remained high after combustion of the body. However, there was almost no difference in the maximum CO concentration measured 0.5 to 1 m above the roof and 1 m from the side of the body. Furthermore, HF was not detected in either type of vehicle when measured at the same positions as for CO.

ISO 12405-1,2 specifies international testing standards for lithium-ion batteries for vehicles. In the mechanical shock test is used to determine if the battery is damaged due to the shock imposed when the vehicle runs over a curb or similar minor accidents. Therefore, we conducted minor collision tests against a curb using an actual vehicle and compared the test results with the conditions specified in ISO 12405-1,2. The results confirmed that the impulse wave obtained using an actual vehicle within the range of the test in this study differs from the shape of the impulse wave specified in ISO 12405-1,2.

We have developed a new propane burner that satisfies the requirements of localized fire test which was presented in SAE technical paper 2011-01-0251. This paper introduces the specifications of this burner and reports its characteristics as determined from various fire exposure tests that we conducted in order to gather data. These tests included temperature and heat flux distribution on cylinder surfaces, which would be useful for the design of automotive compressed fuel cylinders. Our fire exposure tests included localized and engulfing fire tests to compare TPRD activation time, cylinder burst pressure and other parameters between different flame configurations and tests to identify the effects of an automotive compressed fuel cylinder on localized fire test results.

Seat belts for rear passengers are not commonly used, even though they can significantly reduce fatalities. A passenger seat belt reminder (PSBR) is installed in order to encourage seat belt use, but the effectiveness of PSBRs on the rear seat passenger has not yet been proven. We have developed a methodology to assess PSBR effectiveness. There are two pathways to encourage seat belt use. The first is that PSBR directly facilitates the passenger's use. The second is to motivate the driver request passengers to use seat belts. In the experiment, we asked participants sitting in the driver's seat to select one of five ranks of likelihood to encourage the passenger when a PSBR was presented. We also asked participants sitting in the rear passenger seat to select the rank of likelihood to use the belt voluntarily with PSBR and that to use the belt when the driver requested. The degree of likelihood was quantified by averaging the assigned percentage values to the ranks.

In Biodiesel Fuel Research Working Group(WG) of Japan Auto-Oil Program(JATOP), some impacts of high biodiesel blends have been investigated from the viewpoints of fuel properties, stability, emissions, exhaust aftertreatment systems, cold driveability, mixing in engine oils, durability/reliability and so on. This report is designed to determine how high biodiesel blends affect oil quality through testing on 2005 regulations engines with DPFs. When blends of 10-20% rapeseed methyl ester (RME) with diesel fuel are employed with 10W-30 engine oil, the oil change interval is reduced to about a half due to a drop in oil pressure. The oil pressure drop occurs because of the reduced kinematic viscosity of engine oil, which resulting from dilution of poorly evaporated RME with engine oil and its accumulation, however, leading to increased wear of piston top rings and cylinder liners.

The SAE Fuel Cell Vehicle (FCV) Safety Working Group has been addressing FCV safety for over 11 years. In the past couple of years, significant attention has been directed toward a revision to the standard for vehicular hydrogen systems, SAE J2579(1). In addition to streamlining test methodologies for verification of Compressed Hydrogen Storage Systems (CHSSs) as discussed last year,(2) the working group has been considering the effect of vehicle fires, with the major focus on a small or localized fire that could damage the container in the CHSS and allow a burst before the Pressure Relief Device (PRD) can activate and safely vent the compressed hydrogen stored from the container.

The objective of the current study was to provide a comprehensive characterization of human biomechanical response to whole-body, lateral impact. Three approximately 50th-percentile adult male PMHS were subjected to right-side pure lateral impacts at 4.3 ± 0.1 m/s using a rigid wall mounted to a rail-mounted sled. Each subject was positioned on a rigid seat and held stationary by a system of tethers until immediately prior to being impacted by the moving wall with 100 mm pelvic offset. Displacement data were obtained using an optoelectronic stereophotogrammetric system that was used to track the 3D motions of the impacting wall sled; seat sled, and reflective targets secured to the head, spine, extremities, ribcage, and shoulder complex of each subject. Kinematic data were also recorded using 3-axis accelerometer cubes secured to the head, pelvis, and spine at the levels of T1, T6, T11, and L3. Chest deformation in the transverse plane was recorded using a single chestband.

This paper proposes a new mixing-controlled, low temperature combustion (LTC) approach for high-speed direct injection (HSDI) diesel engines. The purpose of this approach is to avoid the excessively high pressure-rise rate (PRR) of premixed, kinetics-controlled LTC and to enable the low nitrogen oxides (NOx) combustion to operate over the wide speed and load range of the engine. To address the soot/noise trade-off at high load LTC operating conditions, the pressure modulated multiple-injection coupled with swirl control was applied. This injection strategy enables the injection of high pressure (HP) main spray into the local high temperature region of the already burning low pressure (LP) pilot spray injected from the neighboring injection hole. By employing this injection strategy, the equivalence ratio (φ) distribution of mixture is drastically varied during main combustion processes.

The SAE Fuel Cell Vehicle (FCV) Safety Working Group has been addressing FCV safety for over 9 years. The initial document, SAE J2578, was published in 2002. SAE J2578 has been valuable as a Recommended Practice for FCV development with regard to the identification of hazards and the definition of countermeasures to mitigate these hazards such that FCVs can be operated in the same manner as conventional gasoline internal combustion engine (ICE)-powered vehicles. SAE J2578 is currently being revised so that it will continue to be relevant as FCV development moves forward. For example, test methods were refined to verify the acceptability of hydrogen discharges when parking in residential garages and commercial structures and after crash tests prescribed by government regulation, and electrical requirements were updated to reflect the complexities of modern electrical circuits which interconnect both AC and DC circuits to improve efficiency and reduce cost.

A total of eight low-speed, rear-end impact tests using two Post Mortem Human Subjects (PMHS) in a seated posture are reported. These tests were conducted using a HYGE-style mini-sled. Two test conditions were employed: 8 kph without a headrestraint or 16 kph with a headrestraint. Upper-body kinematics were captured for each test using a combination of transducers and high-speed video. A 3-2-2-2-accelerometer package was used to measure the generalized 3D kinematics of both the head and pelvis. An angular rate sensor and two single-axis linear accelerometers were used to measure angular speed, angular acceleration, and linear acceleration of T1 in the sagittal plane. Two high-speed video cameras were used to track targets rigidly attached to the head, T1, and pelvis. The cervical spine kinematics were captured with a high-speed, biplane x-ray system by tracking radiopaque markers implanted into each cervical vertebra.

The engine in the research is a single cylinder DI diesel using the emission reduction techniques such as high boost, high injection pressure and broad range and high quantity of exhaust gas recirculation (EGR). The study especially focuses on the reduction of particulate matter (PM) under the engine operating conditions. In the experiment the authors measured engine performance, exhaust gases and mass of PM by low sulfur fuel such as 3 ppm and low sulfur lubricant oil such as 0.26%. Then the PM components were divided into soluble organic fraction (SOF) and insoluble organic fraction (ISOF) and they were measured at each engine condition. The mass of SOF was measured from the fuel fraction and lubricant oil fraction by gas chromatography. Also each mass of soot fraction and sulfate fraction was measured as components of ISOF. The experiment was conducted at BMEP = 2.0 MPa as full load condition of the engine and changing EGR rate from 0% to 40 %.