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A detailed description of the oxidative stability of GM's DEXRON®-VI Factory Fill Automatic Transmission Fluid (ATF) is provided, which can be integrated into a working algorithm to estimate the end of useful oxidative life of the fluid. As described previously, an algorithm to determine the end of useful life of an automatic transmission fluid exists and is composed of two simultaneous counters, one monitoring bulk oxidation and the other monitoring friction degradation [1]. When either the bulk oxidation model or the friction model reach the specified limit, a signal can be triggered to alert the driver that an ATF change is required. The data presented in this report can be used to develop the bulk oxidation model. The bulk oxidation model is built from a large series of bench oxidation tests. These data can also be used independent of a vehicle to show the relative oxidation resistance of this fluid, at various temperatures, compared to other common lubricants.

A driving simulator development project at the Systems Engineering and Technical Process Center (SE/TP) is exploring the role of driving simulation in the vehicle design process. The simulator provides two vehicle mockup testing arenas that support a wide field of view, computer-generated image of the road scene which dynamically responds to driver commands as a function of programmable vehicle model parameters. Two unique aspects of the simulator are the fast 65 ms response time and low incidence rate of simulator induced syndrome (about 5%). Preliminary model validation results and data comparing driver performance in a vehicle vs. the simulator indicate accurate handling response dynamics within the on-center handling region (<0.3g lateral acceleration). Applications have included supporting the development of new steering system concepts, as well as evaluating the usability of vehicle controls and displays.

The dilemma of using a shoulder belt force limiter with a 3-point belt system is selecting a limit load that will balance the reduced risk of significant thoracic injury due to the shoulder belt loading of the chest against the increased risk of significant head injury due to the greater upper torso motion allowed by the shoulder belt load limiter. However, with the use of air bags, this dilemma is more manageable since it only occurs for non-deploy accidents where the risk of significant head injury is low even for the unbelted occupant. A study was done using a validated occupant dynamics model of the Hybrid III dummy to investigate the effects that a prescribed set of shoulder belt force limits had on head and thoracic responses for 48 and 56 km/h barrier simulations with driver air bag deployment and for threshold crash severity simulations with no air bag deployment.

This paper summarizes the rationale used to specify the geometric, inertial and impact response requirements for a small adult female dummy and a large adult male dummy with impact biofidelity and measurement capacity comparable to the Hybrid III dummy, the most advanced midsize adult male dummy. Body segment lengths and weights for these two dummies were based on the latest anthropometry studies for the extremes of the U.S.A. adult population. Other characteristic body segment dimensions were calculated from geometric and mass scaling relationships that assured that each body segment had the same mass density as the corresponding body segment of the Hybrid III dummy. The biomechanical impact response requirements for the head, neck, chest and knee of the Hybrid III dummy were scaled to give corresponding biomechanical impact response requirements for each dummy.

As the driving population ages, there is a need to understand the accident patterns of older drivers. Previous research has shown that side impact collisions, usually at an intersection, are a serious problem for the older driver in terms of injury outcome. This study compares the frequency of side impact, intersection collisions of different driver age groups using state and national police-reported accident data as well as an in-depth analysis of cases from a fatal accident study. All data reveal that the frequency of intersection crashes increases with driver age. The state and national data show that older drivers have an increase frequency of intersection crashes involving vehicles crossing paths prior to the collision compared to their involvement in all crash types. When taking into account traffic control devices at an intersection, older drivers have the greatest involvement of multiple vehicle crashes at a signed intersection.

A study was conducted by General Motors at its crash test facility located at the Milford Proving Ground. The intent of this study was to expand upon the currently available research regarding the safety belt buckle environment during full scale planar crash tests. Buckle accelerations and webbing tensions were measured and recorded to characterize, in part, buckle responses in a crash environment. Previous studies have focused primarily on the component level testing of safety belt buckles. The crash tests included a variety of vehicles, impact types, seating positions, Anthropomorphic Test Devices (ATDs), impact speeds, and impact angles. Also included were various safety belt restraint systems and pretensioner designs. This study reports on data recorded from 100 full scale crash tests with 180 instrumented end release safety belt buckles. Acceleration measurements were obtained with tri-axial accelerometers mounted onto the buckles.

This report presents the test methods and results of a study involving lap/shoulder belted dummies in dynamic dolly rollover tests and inverted vehicle drop tests. Data are presented showing dummy neck loadings resulting from head impacts to the vehicle interior as the vehicle contacts the ground. Comparison of the number and magnitude of axial neckloads are presented for rollcaged and production vehicles, as well as an analysis of the factors which influence neckloads under these conditions.

This paper presents an extensive research program undertaken to develop improved side impact test methods. The development of a component side impact test device along with an associated test procedure are reviewed. The results of accident data analysis techniques to define anatomical areas most likely to be injured during side impact and definition of test device response corridors based on human surrogate testing conducted by the Association Peugeot/Renault and the University of Heidelberg are discussed. The relationship of response corridors and accident data analysis in earlier phases of the project resulted in definition and development of a component side impact test device to represent the human thorax. A test program to evaluate and compare component and full-vehicle test results is presented.

This paper presents the results of a series of over 30 impact sled simulations of racing car frontal crashes conducted as part of the GM Motorsports Safety Technology Research Program. A Hyge™ impact sled fitted with a simulated racing car seat and restraint system was used to simulate realistic crash loading with a mid-size male Hybrid III dummy. The results of tests, in the form of measured loads, displacements, and accelerations, are presented and comparisons made with respect to the levels of these parameters seen in typical passenger car crash testing and to current injury threshold values.

A primary concern in the development of a passenger inflatable restraint system is the possibility that a child could be in the path of the deploying cushion either due to initial position at the time of an accident or due to precrash braking accompanying an accident. Previous studies by General Motors and Volvo have indicated that serious injuries to children are possible if the cushion/child interaction forces are not controlled by system design. This paper describes an instrumented child dummy which was developed to provide measurements of the various cushion/child interaction forces. An analysis is given describing the types of injuries which could be associated with the various types of interaction forces. These results were used to develop appropriate dummy instrumentation for indicating the severity of the cushion/child interaction. A description of the modifications made to an existing three-year-old child dummy are described.

In this paper, the concept of ridedown analysis is extended to provide the total occupant energy and ridedown energy as functions of time. The difference between the total occupant energy and the energy absorbed by the front structure represents the energy which is dissipated by deforming the components of the restraint system. This analysis allows an improved understanding of the restraint system as a whole, and how its components interact with each other and with the front structure of the car to dissipate the occupant's energy throughout the crash event.

This paper describes a numerical simulation technique applicable to the FMVSS 214 side impact test through the use of the finite element method (FEM) technology. The paper outlines the development of the side impact dummy (SID), moving deformable barrier (MDB) and the test vehicle FEM models, as well as the development of new advanced constitutive models of materials and algorithms in LS-DYNA3D which are related to the topic. Presented in the paper are some initial simulation problems which were encountered and solved, as well as the correlation of the simulation data to the physical test.

By design, frontal New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) tests focus on a narrow portion of the spectrum of field crash events. A simple, high level parsing of towaway crashes from NHTSA's National Automotive Sampling System - Crashworthiness Data System (NASS-CDS) files shows that only a small fraction of occupants (but a somewhat larger portion of their harm as measured by ISS) find themselves in crash circumstances remotely similar to NCAP crash conditions. Looking only at seat location, area of damage, direction of force, distribution of damage, and estimated delta-V filters significantly restricts the relevance of NCAP even before critical factors like belt use and vehicle crash partner are considered. Given the limited scope of frontal NCAP it should not be surprising that it has limited usefulness in discriminating among various vehicles' overall performance in the field.

Side impact dummy (SID) is a human-like test device used in the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) mandated side impact test of vehicles sold in the USA. A finite element model of SID has been developed at GM as a part of a project to simulate the side impact test. The objective is to better predict physical test results by replacing traditional rigid-body lumped parameter models with a finite element model. The project included, besides mesh generation, the development of new LS-DYNA3D constitutive models for rubber and foam-like materials, and enhancements of contact interface and other algorithms. This paper describes the GM SID finite element model and its performance in side impact test simulations.

A relationship between the risk of significant thoracic injury (AIS ≥ 3) and Hybrid III dummy sternal deflection for shoulder belt loading is developed. This relationship is based on an analysis of the Association Peugeot-Renault accident data of 386 occupants who were restrained by three-point belt systems that used a shoulder belt with a force-limiting element. For 342 of these occupants, the magnitude of the shoulder belt force could be estimated with various degrees of certainty from the amount of force-limiting band ripping. Hyge sled tests were conducted with a Hybrid III dummy to reproduce the various degrees of band tearing. The resulting Hybrid III sternal deflections were correlated to the frequencies of AIS ≥ 3 thoracic injury observed for similar band tearing in the field accident data. This analysis indicates that for shoulder belt loading a Hybrid III sternal deflection of 50 mm corresponds to a 40 to 50% risk of an AIS ≥ 3 thoracic injury.

Fatal crash circumstances for 48 belted female drivers were studied in-depth and compared to those of 83 belted male drivers in a similar population of vehicles. Women had a higher incidence of crashes on slippery roads, during lane changes and passing maneuvers than men who had a higher rate of aggressive driving and speed related crashes (χ2 = 10.47, p < 0.001). Driver-side damage was significantly more frequent in female than male crashes (χ2 = 5.74, p < 0.025) and women had a higher fraction of side impacts (45.9% v 31.4%) and crashes during daylight (87.0% v 72.3%, χ2 = 3.65, p < 0.05) than men. Women also had a higher fraction of potentially avoidable crashes than men (57.5% v 39.0%) and a lower involvement related to aggressive driving (10.6% v 25.6%). These differences were statistically significant (χ2 = 5.41, p < 0.025).

A deformable finite element dummy model was used to simulate air bag interaction with in-position passenger side occupants in frontal vehicle crash. This dummy model closely simulates the Hybrid III hardware with respect to geometry, mass, and material properties. Test data was used to evaluate the validity of the model. The calculated femur loads, chest acceleration and head acceleration were in good agreement with the test data. A semi-rigid dummy model (with rigid chest) was derived from the deformable dummy to improve turnaround time. Simulation results using the semi-rigid dummy model were also in reasonable agreement with the test data. For comparison purpose, simulations were also performed using PAMCVS, a hybrid code which couples the finite element code PAMCRASH with the rigid body occupant code. The deformable dummy model predicted better chest acceleration than the other two models.

Truck driver shin-knee and stomach postion tools have been developed to describe where certain percentages of truck drivers position there knees and stomachs in various workspace arrangements. Separate equations describe the accommodation level for driver populations with male to female ratios of 50/50, 75/25, and a range from 90/10 to 95/5. These equations can be used as a design tool to locate the curves in vehicle space to describe the region behind which the given populations shin-knees, and stomachs would be located. Equations and curves are provided for both the left leg, which operates the clutch, and the right leg, which operates the accelerator.

Truck driver eye and head position tools have been developed to describe where certain percentages of truck drivers position there eyes and heads in various workspace arrangements. Separate equations describe the accommodation level for driver populations with male to female ratios of 50/50, 75/25, and a range from 90/10 to 95/5. These equations can be used as a design tool to locate the curves in vehicle space to describe the region behind which the given populations eyes and heads would be located. Equations and curves are provided for both the drivers eye and head in the side view. It has become increasingly apparent that there is a need for improved methods of accommodating truck drivers in heavy truck cab design. Currently, practices used in the automobile industry for passenger car design are utilized for the design of heavy trucks. These practices.

Many traffic collisions are the result of the driver's failure to notice the other vehicle. It is often cited in police reports that the driver "looked but did not see.'' The purpose of Daytime Running Lights (DRLs) is to increase the visual contrast of DRL-equipped vehicles. Visual contrast, which is the difference in brightness between two areas, is an important characteristic enabling a driver to detect objects. This paper begins with a brief regulatory history of DRLs in the U.S. and how General Motors Corporation (GM) introduced DRL-equipped vehicles. It also describes a DRL effectiveness study conducted by Exponent Failure Analysis Associates of San Francisco for General Motors Corporation. The study compared the collision rates of specific General Motors Corporation, Saab, Volvo and Volkswagen vehicles before and immediately after the introduction of DRLs. Since DRLs are not visible from behind a vehicle, rear-end collisions were not included in the study.