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During the course of a fire and subsequent exposure to the environment, iron and low-carbon steels oxidize by two mechanisms: high temperature oxidation and atmospheric corrosion. Of particular interest to fire investigators are oxide properties and distribution that could be of use to better understand important characteristics of the fire such as the location the fire originated, the direction the fire traveled or even temperature versus time characteristics. This could be particularly valuable in cases where burn damage to combustible material, which is known to be an important indicator of fire origin, is so extensive that little if any material remains after the fire. However, there is little data in the literature that specifically addresses the utility of oxide properties in the context of fire investigations.

Studies of rollover accidents have reported crash attributes such as the number of rolls, rollout distance, initial over-the-ground speed, average roll rate, average over-the-ground deceleration, magnitude of roof deformation, cumulative damage, time and post-crash headroom. While these more general attributes are related to the repeated vehicle-to-ground impacts during a rollover, it has been previously shown [1] that a specific ground impact during a rollover and its consequences can be studied in more detail by using its acceleration time history (crash pulse or impulse) and energy loss. These two quantities are particularly meaningful to use when studying impact mechanics, however, they are limited to circumstances where the data exists, which means real-world on-road crashes cannot be used directly. Acceleration and energy data have been collected and previously published for three Subaru Forester dolly rollover tests, and have been studied in more detail in this writing.

There is a limited amount of data currently available on the acceleration and braking performances of school buses. This paper analyzes the braking performance of various Type A and Type C school buses with hydraulic and air brakes. The effect of ABS and Non-ABS systems as well as driver experience is discussed. A comparison with passenger car braking performance is presented. The acceleration of a school bus is also presented. Evaluations of “normal” and “rapid” accelerations are presented for Type A and Type B buses. A comparison with commonly used acceleration values for various vehicles is presented.

Unintended acceleration events due to pedal misapplication have been shown to occur more frequently in older vs. younger drivers. While such occurrences are well documented, the nature of these movement errors is not well-characterized in common pedal error scenarios: namely, on-road, non-emergency stopping or slowing maneuvers. It is commonly assumed that drivers move in a ballistic or “direct hit” trajectory from the accelerator to the brake pedal. However, recent simulator studies show that drivers do not always move directly between pedals, with older drivers displaying more variable foot trajectories than younger drivers. Our study investigated pedal movement trajectories in older drivers ages 67.9 ± 5.2 years (7 males, 8 females) during on-road driving in response to variable traffic light conditions. Three different sedans and a pick-up truck were utilized.

Because the great majority of All-Terrain Vehicles (ATVs) use a solid rear axle for improved off-road mobility, these vehicles typically transition from understeer to oversteer with increased cornering severity in tests customarily used by automobile manufacturers to measure steady-state vehicle handling properties. An oversteer handling response is contrary to the accepted norm for on-road passenger vehicles and, for this reason, has drawn scrutiny from numerous researchers. In this paper, an evaluation of ATV handling is presented in which 10 participants operated an ATV that was configured to have two different steady-state cornering characteristics. One configuration produced an approximately linear understeer response (labeled US) and the other configuration transitioned from understeer to oversteer (labeled US-OS) with increasing lateral acceleration in constant-radius turn tests conducted on a skid pad.

This research examines the effects of impactor characteristics on the calculated structural stiffness parameters A and B for the struck sides of late-model vehicles. This study was made possible by crash testing performed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration involving side impacts of the same vehicle line with both a rigid pole and with a moving deformable barrier. Twenty-nine crash test pairs were identified for 2018 model-year vehicles. Of 60 total tests, 49 were analyzed. Test data for 19 vehicles impacted in both modes resulted in A and B values considered to be valid. Classifying these 19 vehicles according to the categories defined by Siddall and Day, only Class 2 multipurpose vehicles were represented by enough vehicles (10) to search for trends within a given vehicle category. For these vehicles, more scatter in the results was observed in both A and B values for the MDB impacts compared to the pole impacts.

Spine degeneration can lower injury tolerance and influence injury outcomes in vehicle crashes. To date, limited information exists on the effect of age and sex on thoracic spine 3-dimensional geometry. The purpose of this study is to quantify thoracic spinal column and canal geometry using selected geometrical measurement from a large sample of CT scans. More than 33,488 scans were obtained from the International Center for Automotive Medicine database at the University of Michigan under Institutional Review Board approval (HUM00041441). The sample consisted of CT scans obtained from 31,537 adult and 1,951 pediatric patients between the ages of 0 to 99 years old. Each scan was processed semi-automatically using custom algorithms written in MATLAB (The Math Works, Natick, MA). Five geometrical measurements were collected including: 1) maximum spinal curvature depth (D), 2) T1-to-T12 vertical height (H), 3) Kyphosis Index (KI), 4) kyphosis angle, and 5) spinal canal radius.

Seat strength has increased over the past four decades which includes a transition to dual recliners. There are seat collision performance issues with stiff ABTS and very strong seats in rear impacts with different occupant sizes, seating positions and physical conditions. In this study, eight rear sled tests were conducted in four series: 1) ABTS in a 56 km/h (35 mph) test with a 50th Hybrid III ATD at MGA, 2) dual-recliner ABTS and F-150 in a 56 km/h (35 mph) test with a 5th female Hybrid III ATD at Ford, 3) dual-recliner ABTS in a 48 km/h (30 mph) test with a 95th Hybrid III ATD leaning inboard at CAPE and 4) dual-recliner ABTS and Escape in 40 km/h (25 mph) in-position and out-of-position tests with a 50th Hybrid III ATD at Ford. The sled tests showed that single-recliner ABTS seats twist in severe rear impacts with the pivot side deformed more rearward than the stanchion side.

The debate surrounding roof deformation and occupant injury potential has existed in the automotive community for over 30 years. In analysis of real-world rollovers, assessment of roof deformation and occupant compartment space starts with the post-accident roof position. Dynamic movement of the roof structure during a rollover sequence is generally acknowledged but quantification of the dynamic roof displacement has been limited. Previous assessment of dynamic roof deformation has been generally limited to review of the video footage from staged rollover events. Rollover testing for the evaluation of injury potential has typically been studied utilizing instrumented test dummies, on-board and off-board cameras, and measurements of residual crush. This study introduces an analysis of previously undocumented real-time data to be considered in the evaluation of the roof structure's dynamic behavior during a rollover event.

By their nature as chaotic, high-energy events, rollovers pose a high risk of injury to unrestrained occupants, in particular through exposure to projected perimeter contact and ejection. While seat belts have long been accepted as a highly effective means of retaining and restraining occupants in rollover crashes, it has been suggested that technologies such as laminated safety glazing or rollover-activated side curtain airbags (RSCAs) could alternatively provide effective occupant containment. In this study, a full-scale dolly rollover crash test was performed to assess the occupant containment capability of laminated side glazing and RSCAs in a high-severity rollover event. This allowed for the analysis of unrestrained occupant kinematics during interaction with laminated side glazing and RSCAs and evaluation of failure modes and limitations of laminated glazing and RSCAs as they relate to partial and complete ejection of unrestrained occupants.

Occupant ejection has been identified as a safety problem for decades, particularly in rollover crashes. While field accident studies have repeatedly demonstrated the effectiveness of seat belts in mitigating rollover ejection and injuries, the use of laminated glass in side window positions has been suggested as a means to mitigate occupant ejection. Limited data is available on the field performance of laminated glass in preventing ejection. This study utilized 1997-2015 NASS-CDS data to investigate the reliability of the glazing coding variables in the database and determine if any conclusions can be drawn regarding the effect of different side window glazing types on occupant ejection. An initial query was run for 1997-2016 model year vehicles involved in side impacts to evaluate glazing coding within NASS-CDS.

Safety-critical systems in most modern applications are designed in a way such that they provide a fail-safe operation when a fault occurs, to pose minimum risk to the user. As these systems become more sophisticated with increased functionality, it is important that their design incorporates functional safety concepts which entail detection of a potential harmful condition that prompts a corrective action to prevent hazardous events. In this paper, we discuss the significance of safety-critical systems along with the implementation of fail-safe designs in these systems. We also aim to provide an overview of functional safety as addressed in some of the industry standards and through a case study demonstrate how the concepts can be used when developing a safety-critical system.

The operational safety of automated driving system (ADS)-equipped vehicles (AVs) needs to be quantified for an understanding of risk, requiring the measurement of parameters as they relate to AVs and human driven vehicles alike. In prior work by the Institute of Automated Mobility (IAM), operational safety metrics were introduced as part of an operational safety assessment (OSA) methodology that provide quantification of behavioral safety of AVs and human-driven vehicles as they interact with each other and other road users. To calculate OSA metrics, the data capture system must accurately and precisely determine position, velocity, acceleration, and geometrical relationships between various safety-critical traffic participants. The design of an infrastructure-based system that is intended to capture the data required for calculation of OSA metrics is addressed in this paper.

Few studies have investigated pediatric head injury mechanics with subjects below the age of 8 years. This paper presents non-injurious head accelerations during various activities for young children (2 to 7 years old). Eight males and five females aged 2-7 years old were equipped with a head sensor package and head kinematics were measured while performing a series of playground-type activities. The maximum peak resultant accelerations were 29.5 G and 2745 rad/s2. The range of peak accelerations was 2.7 G to 29.5 G. The range of peak angular velocities was 4.2 rad/s to 22.4 rad/s. The range of peak angular accelerations was 174 rad/s2 to 2745 rad/s2. Mean peak resultant values across all participants and activities were 13.8 G (range 2.4 G to 13.8 G), 12.8 rad/s (range 4.0 rad/s to 12.8 rad/s), and 1375 rad/s2 (range 105 rad/s2 to 1375 rad/s2) for linear acceleration, angular velocity, and angular acceleration, respectively.

Micro-mobility is a fast-growing trend in the transportation industry with stand-up electric scooters (e-scooters) becoming increasingly popular in the United States. To date, there are over 350 ride-share e-scooter programs in the United States. As this popularity increases, so does the need to understand the performance capabilities of these vehicles and the associated operator kinematics. Scooter tip-over stability is characterized by the scooter geometry and controls and is maintained through operator inputs such as body position, interaction with the handlebars, and foot placement. In this study, testing was conducted using operators of varying sizes to document the capabilities and limitations of these e-scooters being introduced into the traffic ecosystem. A test course was designed to simulate an urban environment including sidewalk and on-road sections requiring common maneuvers (e.g., turning, stopping points, etc.) for repeatable, controlled data collection.

A significant number of vehicle-to-vehicle collisions involve front-to-rear impacts at low- to moderate-speeds. While a variety of studies have been conducted since the 1990s involving fore-aft collisions, those discussing the response of late model passenger vehicles during progressively more severe impacts are limited. In this study, four inline, front-rear tests were conducted using two midsize sedans of the same make, model, and year. An instrumented Hybrid III 50th percentile-male Anthropomorphic Test Device (ATD) was located in the driver seat of each sedan and was restrained using the standard three-point seat belt system. Instrumentation on the vehicles included tri-axis accelerometers and seat belt load cells. For each test, the centerlines of the vehicles were aligned, and the striking vehicle impacted the stationary target vehicle at closing speeds of 4.6, 7.9, 13.5, and 20.9 mph (7.4, 12.7, 21.7, and 33.6 kph).

The Society of Automotive Engineers Light Vehicle Exterior Sound Committee recognizes the value of preserving historical knowledge regarding the standards developed and reviewed by the committee. To memorialize the knowledge gained and lessons learned over the years, the current committee reached out to the chair of the committee during its formative years, Mr. Richard Schumacher, to discuss the rationale and reasoning for many of the early decisions made regarding vehicle sound standards. This work preserves those discussions and relates the history of some of the most commonly used sound level standards. In this paper and presentation, the formation of the committee is discussed, particularly in relation to EPA’s original concern with vehicle noise, as well as the alignment between SAE standards and ISO standards for vehicle noise measurements. The role of the committee is examined, and the review process for SAE vehicle sound standards is explained.

A 3-2-2-2 array of linear accelerometers and a combination of a triaxial linear accelerometer and a triaxial angular rate sensor were mounted into a Hybrid III 50th percentile male ATD head-form and compared in a variety of short- and long-duration events. An appropriate low-pass filter cutoff frequency for differentiating the angular rate sensor data into angular accelerations was found by using a residual analysis to find individual cutoff frequencies for the three center of mass (COM) linear accelerometer channels and the three angular rate sensor channels and taking the arithmetic mean of the six cutoffs. The angular rate sensors provide more accurate rotational rates than integrated angular accelerations calculated from arrays of linear accelerometers and are less cumbersome, especially for events lasting longer than 200 ms.

The energy dissipated by the fracture of wooden utility poles during vehicle impacts is not currently well documented, is dependent upon non-homogenous timber characteristics, and can therefore be difficult to quantify. While there is significant literature regarding the static and quasi-static properties of wood as a building material, there is a narrow body of literature regarding the viscoelastic properties of timber used for utility poles. Although some theoretical and small-scale testing research has been published, full-scale testing has not been conducted for the purpose of studying the vehicle-pole interaction during impacts. The parameters that define the severity of the impact include the acceleration profile, vehicle velocity change, and energy dissipation. Seven full-scale crash tests were conducted at Exponent's Arizona test facility utilizing both moving deformable and non-deformable barriers into new wooden utility poles.

Previous research [1] described a procedure for creating prints from digital photographs that accurately represent critical features of visual scenes at low levels of illumination. In this procedure, observers adjust the brightness of a digital photographs captured using standard photography until it best matches the visible characteristics of the actual scene. However, standard digital photography cannot capture the full dynamic range of a scene's luminous intensities in many low-illumination settings. High dynamic range (HDR) photography has the potential to more accurately represent a viewer's perception under low illumination. Such a capability can be critical to representing nighttime roadway scenes, where HDR photography can enable the creation of more accurate photographic representations of bright visual stimuli (e.g., vehicle headlamps, street lighting) while also maintaining the integrity of the photograph's darker portions.