Lateral collisions in automobile accidents are recognized as serious accidents because very little space is available on the side of the vehicle to absorb the energy of the impact. Test procedures for evaluating the capabilities of a vehicle for protecting the occupants in lateral collision have been applied in the United States since 1993, and are expected to be applied in Europe in 1998. In Japan, in the report of the Council for Transport Technology presented in 1992 on this subject, lateral collision occupant protection was adopted as a middle term study item and studies are in progress for finding an appropriate test procedure to be adopted in Japan. This paper reports the results of analyses of lateral collision accidents in Japan, and also outlines the results of studies of test conditions for a lateral collision testing procedure to be introduced into Japan. (A)
Samenvatting