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Heavy trucks are produced with a great variety of vehicle configurations, operate over a wide range of gross vehicle weight and sometimes function in extreme duty environments. Frontal crashes of heavy trucks can pose a threat to truck occupants when the vehicle strikes another large object such as bridge works, large natural features or another heavy-duty vehicle. Investigations of heavy truck frontal crashes indicate that the factors listed above all affect the outcome for the driver and the resulting damage to the truck Recently, a new chassis was introduced for on-highway heavy truck models that feature frontal airbag occupant protection. This introduction presented an opportunity to incorporate the knowledge gained from crash investigation into the process for developing the crash sensor's parameter settings.

This paper describes some basic aspects of designing a medium and heavy-duty truck cab shell. Since the North American market has been dominated for the last several years by conventional, cab-behind-engine trucks and tractors, only cab shells for this type of vehicle will be discussed. The challenges in designing a medium and heavy-duty truck cab are different from those for a car or light truck body. This paper will highlight some of the differences and describe in detail part of the unique design criteria of truck cabs. Unless otherwise stated, the further use of the word truck will only refer to medium and heavy-duty vehicles.