Dynamic intrusion of the steering assembly into the occupant compartment of a car has a significant effect on the injuries sustained by the driver. In an effort to quantify the injuries caused by this component, two subcompact vehicle models were tested at 25 and 35 miles per hour in full frontal and half offset barrier impacts. The two models were chosen from those tested under the New Car Assessment Program (35 mile per hour barrier tests) because they have very similar crash pulses but dissimilar steering assembly intrusion. This paper compares the differences between the two models in physical characteristics, steering assembly design, occupant injury data and occupant kinematics in a program of eight tests using production vehicles and a 50th percentile unrestrained male Hybrid III driver dummy. Data from electronic transducers and high speed film analyses are presented. Conclusions are drawn about the design of the steering assembly for mitigation of harm to the driver. (A) For the covering abstract of the conference see IRRD 837684.
Abstract