From passive safety to integrated safety: the strategy of the EEVC.

At the beginning of the 70's, the ESV programme was launched by the United States to develop safer road vehicles, whereas the development of motorisation was producing an increase in road traffic fatalities and injuries. At that time, the governments of six European countries decided to set up the EEVC (European Enhanced Vehicle-safety Committee). EEVC coordinated research and proposed test methods, tools and criteria to assess vehicle safety in different accident conditions. The results of EEVC works were used by the European Commission to develop Frontal, Side and Pedestrian European directives, and by EuroNCAP among others. Since car safety has improved, we are now facing a situation where it is more and more difficult to progress and where more research is needed to develop new technologies for safety. There are areas where coordinated research programmes are needed to go forward and then, expect improvement of vehicle safety. Especially, researches in the field of biomechanics and accident studies have to be pursued. Up to now, vehicle safety improvement has been focused on the protection of car occupants without considering interaction between vehicles during collisions; the development of car to car compatibility requirements would allow to go further and then, develop a more homogeneous car fleet. Development of computer performances and numerical models of human and vehicles would allow to enter into the virtual testing procedures which would complement crash tests and allow to assess the protection in conditions not evaluated in crash tests, or with more biofidelic criteria than those recorded on dummies. New technologies for integrated safety are very promising as they would allow to have a better control of car kinematics in pre-crash phase: however, these technologies interfere with driver actions in emergency situations and it is important that these technologies are developed taking into account human physical and cognitive capabilities, as the technologies have to be adapted to human, and not the opposite. EEVC actively contributed to IHRA (International Harmonized Research Activity) work during the last years and considers that there is a need for worldwide international coordination of researches in the field of vehicle safety, especially for subjects which are included in the roadmap of ECE-WP.29 of the World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations (A). For the covering abstract of the conference see ITRD E212343.