The research techniques of instrumented full-scale collision experiments were applied to evaluate relative crash performances of smaller passenger vehicles colliding with larger vehicles. The larger vehicle weighed from 1.5-4 times as much as the small vehicle. The structure-overriding tendencies of larger vehicles in a particular collision was found to greatly influence the severity of exposure to injury for occupants of the smaller vehicle; relative strength of structures was similarly important. The crash safety of a motorist is shown to depend more on the use of adequate restraining devices than on the smallness of his car. Mismatched sizes of vehicles were crashed head-on, as well as in rear-end and intersection-type exposures. Analytical relationships of post-impact displacements as well as transducer and photographic instrumentation data are presented. Actual accident investigations were conducted which provided background preparation for this series of crash tests. Results of these investigations provide additional findings relative to the small versus larger vehicle collision injury problem.
Abstract