Those reponsible for designing cars to meet the European Side Impact Test Procedure are tending to find it more difficult than they originally expected. The conventional wisdom has been that strengthening the car and providing padding material should improve protection. However, many are finding that attempts to meet the test requirements, by reducing door intrusion or intrusion velocity, are proving ineffective. Extensive research carried out by the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) has helped to explain why strengthening the car side is ineffective. It has also given an insight into the side impact injury process and provided design guidelines which can be used to ensure that cars meet the test requirements. This paper reports on the extensive resesarch carried out by TRL.
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