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The Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 226 (FMVSS 226) ejection mitigation standard proposes to measure the performance of ejection mitigation countermeasures (like side curtain airbags) in side impacts and rollovers. An ejection impactor, consisting of a head form attached to a shaft, is propelled at the airbag system at different locations, and the ability of the system to prevent complete or partial ejection out of the side window portals is documented. The friction between the head form and airbag can affect the performance of the airbag to retain the impactor, particularly when the impactor strikes at the bottom of the airbag near the windowsill level. In this study, friction tests were conducted to measure the friction coefficients between a head form scalp material and airbag fabric, human hair and airbag fabric, and human skin and airbag fabric.

This paper is a part of a larger report (Friedman, Kenney, & Holloway, 2003), Impact Induced Fires & Fuel Leakage: Statistical Analysis of FARS and State Data Files (1978-2001). This larger report included a review of the literature of fire and fuel leaks in post-collision passenger vehicles from 1957 to 2003, replicated Malliaris' (1991) methodology in his landmark study of post-collision fires in the State of Michigan and FARS data, and furthered the analysis by examining post-collision fires and fuel leaks with three state accident databases-Maryland, Illinois and Pennsylvania. The current paper is focused on the conclusions and overall recommendations for data collection and analysis based on the findings from the state accident databases and FARS analyses.