This document presents the results of a study undertaken to explore the feasibility of improving the crash injury outcomes of large truck (GVWR > 10,000 lb) occupants through the use of suitable crash protection systems. Four main tasks were performed as part of this study: (i) A survey of the state of the art in truck occupant protection systems was compiled; (ii) Truck crash data from the U.S. road system was compiled and analyzed; (iii) Truck crash simulation models and occupant injury models were developed; (iv) The potential benefits of various occupant protection countermeasures were quantitatively analyzed. Analysis of crash data showed that while the majority of truck crashes involve collisions with smaller vehicles, the most serious injuries to truck occupants occur in collisions with either other trucks, or fixed roadside objects. About 744 fatalities and 29,000 non-fatal injuries are suffered by truck occupants annually. 633 fatalities were suffered by truck drivers and 410 of these or almost 2/3rds occurred in single vehicle crashes. Another 94 occurred in two vehicle truck-truck crashes. A truck crash model was developed using crash test and simulation data available in the literature. An occupant injury model was developed using the MADYMO software package. The results of the computations with and without safety belts was compared with the previously obtained results (from crash data) and the reduction in fatality rates showed good agreement thus providing confidence in the validity of the simulation. The improvement in effectiveness (over safety belt alone) of using both safety belts and airbags was computed again using the truck crash Peak Contact Velocity distribution. The calculations show an estimated reduction of 253 in K and A injuries with the use of both airbags and safety belts, which corresponds to approximately a further 6% (253 out of 4540 annual K and A injuries) reduction over the use of safety belts alone.
Abstract