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The objective of this study is to present a quantitative comparison of the biofidelity of the THOR and Hybrid III 50th percentile male ATDs. Quantitative biofidelity was assessed using NHTSA’s Biofidelity Ranking System in a total of 21 test conditions, including impacts to the head, face, neck, upper thorax, lower oblique thorax, upper abdomen, lower abdomen, femur, knee, lower leg, and whole-body sled tests to evaluate upper body kinematics and thoracic response under frontal and frontal oblique restraint loading. Biofidelity Ranking System scores for THOR were better (lower) than Hybrid III in 5 of 7 body regions for internal biofidelity and 6 of 7 body regions for external biofidelity. Nomenclature is presented to categorize the quantitative results, which show overall good internal and external biofidelity of the THOR compared to the good (internal) and marginal (external) biofidelity of the Hybrid III.

When the Hybrid III 10-year old (HIII-10C) anthropomorphic test device (ATD) was adopted into Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 49 Part 572 as the best available tool for evaluating large belt-positioning booster seats in Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 213, NHTSA stated that research activities would continue to improve the performance of the HIII-10C to address biofidelity concerns. A significant part of this effort has been NHTSA’s in-house development of the Large Omnidirectional Child (LODC) ATD. This prototype ATD is comprised of (1) a head with pediatric mass properties, (2) a neck that produces head lag with Z-axis rotation at the atlanto-occipital joint, (3) a flexible thoracic spine, (4) multi-point thoracic deflection measurement capability, (5) skeletal anthropometry representative of a seated child, and (6) an abdomen that can directly measure belt loading.

Anthropomorphic test devices (ATDs) should accurately depict head kinematics in crash tests, and thoracic spine properties have been demonstrated to affect those kinematics. To investigate the relationships between thoracic spine system dynamics and upper thoracic kinematics in crash-level scenarios, three adult post-mortem human subjects (PMHS) were tested in both Isolated Segment Manipulation (ISM) and sled configurations. In frontal sled tests, the T6-T8 vertebrae of the PMHS were coupled through a novel fixation technique to a rigid seat to directly measure thoracic spine loading. Mid-thoracic spine and belt loads along with head, spine, and pectoral girdle (PG) displacements were measured in 12 sled tests conducted with the three PMHS (3-pt lap-shoulder belted/unbelted at velocities from 3.8 - 7.0 m/s applied directly through T6-T8).

This study evaluated the response of restrained post-mortem human subjects (PMHS) in 40 km/h frontal sled tests. Eight male PMHS were restrained on a rigid planar seat by a custom 3-point shoulder and lap belt. A video motion tracking system measured three-dimensional trajectories of multiple skeletal sites on the torso allowing quantification of ribcage deformation. Anterior and superior displacement of the lower ribcage may have contributed to sternal fractures occurring early in the event, at displacement levels below those typically considered injurious, suggesting that fracture risk is not fully described by traditional definitions of chest deformation. The methodology presented here produced novel kinematic data that will be useful in developing biofidelic human models.

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.

A new lower leg/ankle/foot system has been designed and fabricated to assess the potential for lower limb injuries to small females in the automotive crash environment. The new lower extremity can be retrofitted at present to the distal femur of the 5th percentile female Hybrid III dummy. Future plans are for integration of this design into the 5th percentile female THOR dummy now under development. The anthropometry of the lower leg and foot is based mainly on data developed by Robbins for the 5th percentile female, while the biomechanical response requirements are based upon scaling of 50th percentile male THOR-Lx responses. The design consists of the knee, tibia, ankle joints, foot, a representation of the Achilles tendon, and associated flesh/skins. The new lower extremity, known as THOR-FLx, is designed to be biofidelic under dynamic axial loading of the tibia, static and dynamic dorsiflexion, static plantarflexion and inversion/eversion.

A major focus of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA) vehicle compatibility and aggressivity research program is the development of a laboratory test procedure to evaluate compatibility. This paper is written to explain the associated goals, issues, and design considerations and to review the preliminary results from this ongoing research program. One of NHTSA's activities supporting the development of a test procedure involves investigating the use of an mobile deformable barrier (MDB) into vehicle test to evaluate both the self-protection (crashworthiness) and the partner-protection (compatibility) of the subject vehicle. For this development, the MDB is intended to represent the median or expected crash partner. This representiveness includes such vehicle characteristics as weight, size, and frontal stiffness. This paper presents distributions of vehicle measurements based on 1996 fleet registration data.

This paper describes ongoing research conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to evaluate the potential of safety restraints on large school buses. School bus transportation is one of the safest forms of transportation in the United States. Large school buses provide protection because of their visibility, size, and weight, as compared to other types of motor vehicles. Additionally, they are required to meet minimum Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) mandating compartmentalized seating, emergency exits, roof crush and fuel system integrity, and minimum bus body joint strength.

This paper provides an overview of a cooperative research program between General Motors Corporation and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to conduct a field operational test of a rear-end collision warning system. A description of the system architecture is also presented.

Pedestrian research and testing at the NHTSA Vehicle Research and Test Center has recently focused on assessment of proposed ISO and EEVC head impact test procedures, and extension of these procedures to additional vehicle frontal surfaces. In addition to test parameter sensitivity evaluation, reconstruction of PCDS (Pedestrian Crash Data Study) cases with laboratory impact tests and computer simulations has been conducted. This paper presents the results of this research.

NHTSA uses a variety of computer modelling techniques to develop and evaluate test methods and mitigation concepts, and to estimate safety benefits for many of NHTSA's research activities. Computer modeling has been particularly beneficial for estimating safety benefits where often very little data are available. Also modeling allows researchers to augment test data by simulating crashes over a wider range of conditions than would otherwise be feasible. These capabilities are used for a wide range of projects from school bus to frontal, side, and rollover research programs. This paper provides an overview of these activities. NHTSA's most extensive modeling research involves developing finite element and articulated mass models to evaluate a range of vehicles and crash environments. These models are being used to develop a fleet wide systems model for evaluating compatibility issues.

This paper presents an overview of NHTSA's vehicle aggressivity and fleet compatibility research activities. This research program is being conducted in close cooperation with the International Harmonized Research Agenda (IHRA) compatibility research group. NHTSA is monitoring the changing vehicle mix in the U.S. fleet, analyzing crash statistics, and evaluating any implications that these changes may have for U.S. occupant safety. NHTSA is also continuing full-scale crash testing to develop a better understanding of vehicle compatibility and to investigate test methods to assess vehicle compatibility.

This paper focuses on the overall structure of the Crash Injury Research and Engineering Network (CIREN), how data are collected, and what makes it unique. It discusses how it can be used to expand and enhance the information in other databases. CIREN is a collaborative effort to conduct research on crashes and injuries at nine Level 1 Trauma Centers which are linked by a computer network. Researchers can review data and share expertise, which will lead to a better understanding of crash injury mechanisms and the design of safer vehicles. CIREN data are being used in outreach and education programs on motor vehicle safety. CIREN outreach and education has already been credited with lifesaving information dissemination.

This paper describes computer crash simulations performed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) under the current research and testing activities on large school bus safety restraints. The simulations of a frontal rigid barrier test and comparative dynamic sled testing for compartmentalization, lap belt, and lap/shoulder belt restraint strategies are presented. School bus transportation is one of the safest forms of transportation in the United States. School age children transported in school buses are safer than children transported in motor vehicles of any other type. Large school buses provide protection because of their size and weight. Further, they must meet minimum Federal motor vehicle safety standards (FMVSSs) mandating compartmentalized seating, improved emergency exits, stronger roof structures and fuel systems, and better bus body joint strength.

Early influences upon Thor ATD development are described, and the path of Thor development is traced up to the release of the current Thor ALPHA ATD design. Since the display of the first Thor ATD prototype at the 15th ESV Conference in Melbourne in 1996, Thor has undergone extensive test and evaluation on an international basis in cooperation with many partner institutions. This paper summarizes some of the lessons learned from this broad test experience, and documents actions which have been undertaken to upgrade the Thor product to ALPHA status in light of this experience.

The objectives of this study were to develop and apply procedures for defining pedestrian safety zones for the older (age 65+) adult and to develop, implement and evaluate a countermeasure program in the defined zones. Zone definition procedures were applied to two cities: Phoenix and Chicago. Extensive countermeasure programs were implemented in both cities. A complete crash-based evaluation was conducted only for the city of Phoenix where data showed significant reductions in zone crashes to 65+ pedestrians over a period in which the city's population and overall pedestrian crashes increased. It was concluded that the zone process resulted in an effective and efficient means of deploying pedestrian countermeasures for the older adult.

This paper provides an update of NHTSA's research activities in vehicle compatibility and aggressivity. This paper pres ents new ly initiated efforts underw ay to develop test assessment meth odologie s intende d to evalua te vehic le compatibility. The rigid barrier load cell data collected from 18 years of the agency's New Car Assessment Program testing are reviewed to e valuate potentia l test measures that may be used to evaluate a vehic le's compatibility in vehicle-to-vehicle crashes. These parameters are then evaluated using a series of vehicle-to-vehic le and m oving deformable ba rrier (MDB)-to -veh icle tests. In these tests, the face of the MDB has been instrumented with an array of load cells to compute test measures. This study is part of NHTSA's ongoing compatib ility research program and is being coordinated with the IHRA compatibility group.

This paper describes a Field Operational Test (FOT) of an Automated Collision Notification (ACN) System, a new way to provide definitive pre- hospital medical care to people injured in motor vehicle crashes. This FOT is part of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA's) research being conducted under the U.S. Department of Transportation's Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) program. Management of the program is by the Office of Vehicle Safety Research in NHTSA. The ACN FOT is a demonstration of the application of advanced technology for the improvement of pre-hospital emergency care for motor-vehicle crash victims. The test, involving approximately 850 volunteers' vehicles, was conducted in rural Western New York State. A partnership of local public agencies and private corporations, led by Veridian, Inc., performed the test.

A new lower extremity has been developed to be used with Thor, the NHTSA Advanced Frontal Dummy. The new lower extremity, known as Thor-Lx, consists of the femur, tibia, ankle joints, foot, a representation of the Achilles' tendon and the associated flash/skins, it has been designed to improve biomechanical response under axial loading of the femur during knee impacts, axial loading of the tibia, static and dynamic dorsiflexion, static plantarflexion and inversion/aversion. Instrumentation includes a standard Hybrid ill femur load cell, accelerometers, load cells, and rotary potentiometers to capture relevant kinematic and dynamic information from the foot and tibia. The design also allows the Tnor-Lx to be attached to the Hybrid III, either at the hip, or at the knee.

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.