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The research reported in this paper is a follow-on to a five year research program conducted by General Motors in accordance with an administrative Settlement Agreement reached with the US Department of Transportation. This paper is the fourth in a series of technical papers intended to disseminate the results of the ongoing research [Digges 2004, 2005, 2006]. This paper summarizes progress in several of the projects to better understand the crash factors that are associated with crash induced fires. Part I of the paper presents the distribution of fire cases in NASS/CDS by damage severity and injury severity. It also examines the distributions by crash mode, fire origin, and fuel leakage location. The distributions of cases with fires and entrapment are also examined. Part II of the paper provides summaries of recent projects performed by MVFRI contractors. Technologies to reduce fuel leakage from siphoning and rollover are documented.

The research reported in this paper is a follow-on to a five year research program conducted by General Motors in accordance with an administrative Settlement Agreement reached with the US Department of Transportation. In a subsequent Judicial Settlement, GM agreed fund more than $4.1 million in fire related research over the period 2001-2004. The purpose of this paper is to provide a public update report on the projects that have been funded under this latter research program, along with results to date. An analysis of FARS and State accident data has been completed. Results indicate that fire rates have been significantly reduced over the past 20 years. Fire rates for passenger cars and LTVs have approached similar levels. Fire rates by crash mode indicate that rear impact fires have been significantly reduced; however, fires in rollover crashes have seen considerably less reduction. The highest percentages of fires are subsequent to frontal impacts.

The research reported in this paper is a follow-on to a five year research program conducted by General Motors in accordance with an administrative Settlement Agreement reached with the US Department of Transportation. This paper is the fourth in a series of technical papers intended to disseminate the results of the ongoing research [Digges 2003, 2004, 2005]. This paper summarizes progress in several of the projects dealing with underhood fires and testing of a hydrogen fuel tank. Calorimeter tests of underhood materials found a wide range of flammability for the structural plastics as well as the underhood sound insulation. Calorimeter tests of underhood fluids (lubricants and hydraulic fluid) showed that their flash points were less than 188°C and the minimum temperature of a hot surface to cause ignition was less than 325°C. Tests of four different vehicles to determine the exhaust manifold operating temperatures found a range between 241°C and 550°C.

The research reported in this paper is a follow-on to a five year research program conducted by General Motors in accordance with an administrative Settlement Agreement reached with the US Department of Transportation. This paper is the third in a series of technical papers intended to disseminate the results of the ongoing research [Digges 2003 and 2004]. This paper summarizes progress in several of the projects. A statistical analysis of FARS and NASS/CDS indicates that frontal collisions are the most common in both fatal and non-fatal crashes with fires. NASS/CDS indicates that most major and minor fires originate under the hood. Fire rates in FARS are higher in rollovers than in planar crashes, and most rollover fires in NASS/CDS originate under the hood.

The Department of Transportation (DOT) National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) awarded a contract to Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) to conduct research and testing in the interest of motorcoach fire safety. The goal of this program was to develop and validate procedures and metrics to evaluate current and future detection, suppression, and exterior fire-hardening technologies that prevent or delay fire penetration into the passenger compartment of a motorcoach - in order to increase passenger evacuation time. The program was initiated with a literature review and characterization of the thermal environment of motorcoach fires and survey of engine compartments, firewalls, and wheel wells of motorcoaches currently in North American service. These characterizations assisted in the development of test methods and identification of the metrics for analysis. Test fixtures were designed and fabricated to simulate a representative engine compartment and wheel well.