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In 2002, NHTSA statistics indicate air bag deployments saved an estimated 1,500 lives; however, reports of occupants having serious or fatal injuries during air bag deployment appear low relative to the number of accidents with air bag deployments. To avoid air bag induced injuries, a variety of occupant sensing technologies are being developed. One of the critical logic deployment challenges faced by these technologies is whether the system can accurately determine if the occupant is in a posture or a position such that air bag deployment may result in an injury. To improve accuracy, it is necessary to understand what postures the occupants are likely to assume during a ride and how often. For this purpose, Delphi Corporation has conducted a survey to solicit opinions on the posture usage rate. With 560 responses, the frequencies for 29 sitting postures for adult passengers and 13 child postures or positions were estimated.

Data suggest that in response to substantial educational efforts, more children are being placed in the rear seats of vehicles. As this transition occurs, it is important to make efforts to optimize the performance of rear seat restraints for children. Prior to developing new restraints for children for the rear seat, a better understanding of child responses in various crash scenarios is needed. The objective of this study was to evaluate the performance of various restraint systems and countermeasures for child occupants in different crash scenarios. Sled tests were carried out with a Hybrid III 6 year old anthropomorphic test device (ATD) in frontal, oblique and side impact configurations. The performance of a highback and a backless booster seat was assessed. The results were compared with two standard 3 point belt restraint systems: 1. a package shelf mounted belt, and 2. a C-pillar mounted belt.

Automotive rollover is a complex mechanical phenomenon. In order to understand the mechanism of rollover and develop any potential countermeasures for occupant protection, efficient and repeatable laboratory tests are necessary. However, these tests are not well understood and are still an active area of research interest. It is not always easy or intuitive to estimate the necessary initial and boundary conditions for such tests to assure repeatability. This task can be even more challenging when rollover is a second or third event (e.g. frontal impact followed by a rollover). In addition, often vehicle and occupant kinematics need to be estimated a-priori, first for the safe operation of the crew and equipment safety, and second for capturing and recording the event. It is important to achieve the required vehicle kinematics in an efficient manner and thus reduce repetitive tests. Mathematical modeling of the phenomenon can greatly assist in understanding such kinematics.

This work discusses the development of SAE procedure J2747, “Hydraulic Pump Airborne Noise Bench Test”. This is a test procedure describing a standard method for measuring radiated sound power levels from hydraulic pumps of the type typically used in automotive power steering systems, though it can be extended for use with other types of pumps. This standard was developed by a committee of industry representatives from OEM's, suppliers and NVH testing firms familiar with NVH measurement requirements for automotive hydraulic pumps. Details of the test standard are discussed. The hardware configuration of the test bench and the configuration of the test article are described. Test conditions, data acquisition and post-processing specifics are also included. Contextual information regarding the reasoning and priorities applied by the development committee is provided to further explain the strengths, limitations and intended usage of the test procedure.

This paper provides an overview of rollover crash safety, including field crash statistics, pre- and rollover dynamics, test procedures and dummy responses as well as a bibliography of pertinent literature. Based on the 2001 Traffic Safety Facts published by NHTSA, rollovers account for 10.5% of the first harmful events in fatal crashes; but, 19.5% of vehicles in fatal crashes had a rollover in the impact sequence. Based on an analysis of the 1993-2001 NASS for non-ejected occupants, 10.5% of occupants are exposed to rollovers, but these occupants experience a high proportion of AIS 3-6 injury (16.1% for belted and 23.9% for unbelted occupants). The head and thorax are the most seriously injured body regions in rollovers. This paper also describes a research program aimed at defining rollover sensing requirements to activate belt pretensioners, roof-rail airbags and convertible pop-up rollbars.

The industry strategy for automotive safety systems has been evolving over the last 20 years. Systems, such as frontal and side airbags, are available today on the worldwide market that provide proven safety benefits. Interest in advanced safety systems for occupant protection and accident avoidance, is focused on making further reductions in road fatalities and injuries. Interior occupant sensing systems for advanced restraint systems, trapped occupant sensing, and driver monitoring are today under intense development as part of the industry's safety vision. In this paper, we will discuss the need for and requirements of interior occupant sensing systems, as well as applicable technologies

In dynamic rollover tests many vehicles experience sustained body roll oscillations during a portion of road edge recovery maneuver, in which constant steering angle is maintained. In this paper, qualitative explanation of this phenomenon is given and it is analyzed using simplified models. It is found that the primary root cause of these oscillations is coupling occurring between the vehicle roll, heave and subsequently yaw modes resulting from suspension jacking forces. These forces cause vertical (heave) motions of vehicle body, which in turn affect tire normal and subsequently lateral forces, influencing yaw response of vehicle. As a result, sustained roll, heave and yaw oscillations occur during essentially a steady-state portion of maneuver. Analysis and simulations are used to assess the influence of several chassis characteristics on the self-excited oscillations. The results provide important insights, which may influence suspension design.

The laboratory test method commonly known as “random vibration” is almost always used for Squeak & Rattle testing in today's automotive applications due to its obvious advantages: the convenience in simulating the real road input, the relatively low cost, and efficiency in obtaining the desired test results. Typically, Loudness N10 is used to evaluate the Squeak & Rattle (S&R) performance. However, due to the nature of random distribution of the excitation input, the repeatability of the loudness N10 measurements may vary significantly. This variation imposes a significant challenge when one is searching for a fine design improvement solution in minimizing S&R noise, such as a six-sigma study. This study intends to investigate (1) the range of the variations of random vibration control method as an excitation input with a given PSD, (2) the possibility of using an alternate control method (“time-history replication”) to produce the vibration of a given PSD for a S&R evaluation.

With increasingly stringent emissions regulations and concurrent requirements for enhanced engine thermal efficiency, a comprehensive characterization of the automotive gasoline fuel spray has become essential. The acquisition of accurate and repeatable spray data is even more critical when a combustion strategy such as gasoline direct injection is to be utilized. Without industry-wide standardization of testing procedures, large variablilities have been experienced in attempts to verify the claimed spray performance values for the Sauter mean diameter, Dv90, tip penetration and cone angle of many types of fuel sprays. A new SAE Recommended Practice document, J2715, has been developed by the SAE Gasoline Fuel Injection Standards Committee (GFISC) and is now available for the measurement and characterization of the fuel sprays from both gasoline direct injection and port fuel injection injectors.

Child safety continues to be an important issue in automotive safety for many reasons, including reported cases of serious injury from airbag deployments. As a result of extensive public education campaigns, most children are now placed in rear seats of vehicles. Accordingly, a more precise understanding of rear-seat occupant protection is developing as the second and third rows have become the primary seating area for children in SUVs, vans and passenger cars. The objective of this study was to review field crash and injury data from rear seats, identify the distribution of children and infants in rear seats, and analyze injury risks in various crash modes. The database used was the 1991-1999 NASS-CDS. When looking at crash configurations for 1st and 2nd row children, rollover crashes involved the highest incidence of MAIS 3+ injury, followed by frontal and side impacts. Lap-shoulder belt usage was similar for 1st and 2nd row children.

Since more occupants are using rear seats of vehicles, a better understanding of priorities for rear occupant protection is needed as future safety initiatives are considered. A two-part study was conducted on occupant injuries in rear seating positions. In Part I, adult and teenage occupants ≥13 years of age are investigated. In Part II, children aged 4-12 years old and toddlers and infants aged 0-3 are studied separately because of the use of infant and child seats and boosters involve different injury mechanisms and tolerances. The objectives of this study on adult and teenager, rear-seated occupants (≥13 years old) are to: 1) review accident data, 2) identify the distribution of rear occupants, and 3) analyze injury risks in various crash modes, including rollovers, frontal, side and rear impacts. Three databases were investigated: NASS-CDS, GES and FARS.

Computer simulation was used as a complement to crash and injury field data analysis and physical sled and barrier tests to investigate and predict the spinal injuries of a rear impact in an IndyCar. The model was expected to relate the spinal loads to the observed injuries, thereby predicting the probability and location of spinal fractures. The final goal is to help reduce the fracture risk by optimizing the seat and restraint system design and the driver's position using computer modeling and sled testing. MADYMO Full FE Human Body Model (HBM) was selected for use because of its full spinal structural details and its compatibility with the vehicle and restraint system models. However, the IndyCar application imposed unique challenges to the HBM. First, the driver position in a race car is very different from that in a typical passenger car.

The University of Wisconsin - Madison hybrid vehicle team has designed and constructed a four-wheel drive, charge sustaining, parallel hybrid-electric sport utility vehicle for entry into the FutureTruck 2003 competition. This is a multi-year project utilizing a 2002 4.0 liter Ford Explorer as the base vehicle. Wisconsin's FutureTruck, nicknamed the ‘Moolander’, weighs 2000 kg and includes a prototype aluminum frame. The Moolander uses a high efficiency, 1.8 liter, common rail, turbo-charged, compression ignition direct injection (CIDI) engine supplying 85 kW of peak power and an AC induction motor that provides an additional 60 kW of peak power. The 145 kW hybrid drivetrain will out-accelerate the stock V6 powertrain while producing similar emissions and drastically reducing fuel consumption. The PNGV Systems Analysis Toolkit (PSAT) model predicts a Federal Testing Procedure (FTP) combined driving cycle fuel economy of 16.05 km/L (37.8 mpg).

Rollovers are an important vehicle safety issue. Various technologies have been developed to help prevent rollovers from occurring, but the evaluation of rollover resistance typically involves vehicle-handling tests that are conducted on flat road surfaces with a uniform or split coefficient of friction. The purpose of this study is to determine the precipitating events leading to rollovers by analyzing real-world rollover crashes. This is a first step in identifying and developing vehicle tests that are representative of the principal driving scenarios leading to rollovers. The sequence of events leading to rollovers was determined from 63 in-depth investigated cases in the NASS-CDS database from 1995-1999. The sequence was evaluated by vehicle maneuvers, vehicle stability, surface type, road and shoulder transition condition, posted and estimated speeds, vehicle type and driver injury severity.

Since its invention in early 1990s, the side curtain airbag has become an important part of the occupant restraint system for side impact and rollover protection. Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) is often used to help side curtain airbag design. Because of the unique characteristics of side curtain airbag systems, the simulation of side curtain airbag systems faces different challenges in comparison to the simulation of driver and passenger airbag systems. The typical side curtain airbag CAE analysis includes, but is not limited to, cushion volume evaluation, cushion coverage review, cushion shrinkage and tension force review, deployment timing review and seam shape and location review. The commonly used uniform pressure airbag models serve the purpose in most cases.

Both Crash-Avoidance and Pre-Crash active safety technologies are being developed to help reduce the number of crashes and minimize the severity of crashes. The root basis in the development of new and improved active safety technologies always begins with gaining further knowledge about crash kinds and causes. The dynamics of crashes are quite complex. The evolving precursor crash situation initiated in the Crash-Avoidance time-period will vary from the imminent crash situation in the Pre-Crash time-period. As such, in order to develop the appropriate requirements for both crash-avoidance and pre-crash technologies, they must be analyzed from their respective crash data. A data-driven methodology process has been developed which partitions the field data with a perspective to crash-avoidance and pre-crash.

Production software validation is critical during software development, allowing potential quality issues that could occur in the field to be minimized. By developing automated and repeatable software test methods, test cases can be created to validate targeted areas of the control software for confirmation of the expected results from software release to release. This is especially important when algorithm/software development timing is aggressive and the management of development activities in a global work environment requires high quality, and timely test results. This paper presents a hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) test bench for the validation of production transmission controls software. The powertrain model used within the HIL consists of an engine model and a detailed automatic transmission dynamics model. The model runs in an OPAL-RT TestDrive based HIL system.