The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety evaluates some aspects of new vehicle crashworthiness based on performance in a 40 percent frontal offset test into a deformable barrier. The impact speed of 64 km/h used in this program has been criticized as being too high and not representative of real-world crashes. At the 1996 Enhanced Safety of Vehicles conference, the estimated crash severities of a sample of real-world crashes from the National Automotive Sampling System (NASS) were compared with the Institute's 64 km/h offset crash tests of 16 midsize 1995-96 model four-door cars. Injury likelihood from the NASS sample was related to the test speed through delta V using the CRASH3 damage-only algorithm. Results from that study suggest that a 40 percent frontal offset test into a deformable barrier conducted at a speed less than 64 km/h would represent a crash severity that is lower than a large number of real-world car crashes with serious injuries. The present study expands on the previous work by providing one additional year of NASS data and results from 41 additional crash tests of 1995-98 model cars, passenger vans, and utility vehicles. Delta V and injury data were collected for real-world offset crashes from NASS for each of the three vehicle types and separated by restraint use. Results indicate that for cars, the Institute's 64 km/h frontal offset test represents a crash severity that encompasses about 80 percent of all real-world crashes with AIS 3 or greater injuries (ie the remainder occur at higher crash severities) but only about 33 percent of all fatal crashes. (A)
Abstract