APPROPRIATE FRONTAL BARRIER TESTS FOR BELTED OCCUPANTS

Vehicle damage from frontal impacts was classified and investigated to gether with injuries sustained by belted front seat occupants. The sam ple consisted of 1872 frontal crashes from the Midlands of England. An alysis focused on impacts with broad objects that might conceivably be simulated by a barrier test. Two asymmetrical front-end damage patter ns were commonly identified, and these gave the greatest rates of non- minor (Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) greater than or equal to 2) inju ries in a range of Estimated Test Speeds from 35 to 52km/h which is th e regime of current legislative crash tests. The most injurious type i nvolved oblique damage caused by a substantial overlap of the struck o bject. The other type was from a small overlap. Objects struck and pas senger compartment intrusions were compared. Appropriate asymmetrical and deformable barrier concepts were discussed. Other findings were co nnected with the future role of full face barriers as used in current tests such as Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 208. Fuller overla ps (> 50%) tended to give more torso injuries rated greater than or eq ual to AIS 2 caused by seat belt loads and, at high speeds (53-79km/h) , caused the most fatalities. Full overlaps (100%) rarely resulted in symmetrical intrusion into the passenger compartment.