THE IMPACT OF IMPROVED VEHICLE DESIGN ON HIGHWAY SAFETY

This paper describes a framework for evaluating the safety of automobi le designs in terms of likelihood of accident occurrence and severity of likely injuries sustained. Fault-tree analysis is utilized to model interacting relationships between causative factors that affect accid ent occurrence. A multiattribute injury model based on harm measures o btained from the National Accident Sampling System Database is present ed to describe accident severity. By combining the two sub-models, a r isk profile for a single automobile design is constructed. The risk pr ofile is then used I) descriptively, as a basis for comparing competin g design alternatives through multiobjective analysis and 2) prescript ively, as a tool to highlight causative factors worthy of crash protec tion and crash-avoidance design research. (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Li mited.