Since the 1984 publication of the results of NHTSA's initial research on thoracic side impact protection, substantial progress has been made. The updated injury criterion, TTI-86, is applied to the side impact dummies in the modified vehicle tests and the potential for significant safety improvements for reducing thoracic injuries in side impact collisions for the given test conditions and crash severalties and for several of the production vehicles that have been tested, is indicated.
Abstract