Search Results

This paper presents the test track scenario design and analysis used to estimate the performances of heavy vehicles equipped with forward collision warning and automatic emergency braking systems in rear-end crash scenarios. The first part of this design and analysis study was to develop parameters for brake inputs in test track scenarios simulating a driver that has insufficiently applied the brakes to avoid a rear-end collision. In the second part of this study, the deceleration limits imposed by heavy vehicles mechanics and brake systems are used to estimate automatic emergency braking performance benefits with respect to minimum stopping distance requirements set by Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards. The results of this study were used to complete the test track procedures and show that all heavy vehicles meeting regulatory stopping distance requirements have the braking capacity to demonstrate rear-end crash avoidance improvements in the developed tests.

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has developed an Oblique Offset Moving Deformable Barrier test procedure. For this test procedure to be viable, it must be repeatable within each test facility and it must be reproducible between test facilities. Three tests of a single vehicle model were conducted at three different test facilities, a total of nine tests, to evaluate repeatability and reproducibility. The responses of the vehicle and its occupants were evaluated using three different methodologies to quantify the repeatability within a single test facility and reproducibility among the three test facilities. The first two methods evaluated the time-history of the measured data and the third method only used the peak values. Overall, this test series demonstrated repeatable and reproducible results for the OMDB, vehicle, and driver occupant in the oblique offset test procedure. The method using only the peak values indicates more variability.

This paper presents National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s 2017 and 2018 test track research results with heavy vehicles equipped with forward collision warning and automatic emergency braking systems. Newly developed objective test procedures were used to perform and collect performance data with three single-unit trucks equipped with the crash avoidance systems. The results of this research show that the test procedures are applicable to many heavy vehicles and indicate that performance improvements in heavy vehicles equipped with these safety systems can be objectively measured.

FMVSS No. 205, “Glazing Materials,” uses impact test methods specified in ANSI/SAE Z26.1-1996. NHTSA’s Vehicle Research and Test Center initiated research to evaluate a subset of test methods from ANSI Z26.1-1996 including the 227 gram ball and shot bag impact tests, and the fracture test. Additional research was completed to learn about potential changes to tempered glass strength due to the ceramic paint area (CPA), and to compare the performance of twelve by twelve inch flat samples and full-size production parts. Glass evaluated included tempered rear quarter, sunroof, and backlight glazing. Samples with a paint edge were compared to samples without paint, and to production parts with and without paint in equivalent impact tests. A modified shot bag with stiffened sidewalls was compared to the ANSI standard shot bag. The fracture test comparison included evaluating the ANSI Z26.1 impact location and ECE R43 impact location.