Vehicle downsizing and roadside safety hardware.

Downsizing of domestic passenger cars is expected to be a major element in energy conservation. With the expected introduction of significant numbers of mini-sized cars, there is a need of re-examine roadside safety hardware design and performance criteria. In this paper the evolution of the consideration of vehicle size in roadside safety hardware research is reviewed and the data available to assist in the selection of the initial mini-sized cars of interest are discussed.