Concepts previously developed to improve the crashworthiness of standard size vehicles in high speed frontal impacts were studied to determine their applicability to compact cars. The additional design constraints imposed by the compact vehicle resulted from the smaller size and light weight of the vehicles so that efforts were made to increase the efficiency of design. Comparisons between the modified and the base line vehicle demonstrated the major improvement in the crashworthiness ability of these vehicles. The most successful test resulted in a 50% reduction in the dynamic penetration of the pole while maintaining the deceleration values at an acceptable level. The primary imperfection of the design was that an excessive amount of weight (between 350-500 lbs.) was added to the vehicle. The developmental nature of the effort made the improvement of the structural performance the most important criterion, although the later modifications did consider weight control. (Author)


    Access

    Access via TIB

    Check availability in my library


    Export, share and cite



    Title :

    Basic Research in Crashworthiness II. Structural Modifications of Compact Cars for Frontal Impacts


    Contributors:

    Publication date :

    1972


    Size :

    113 pages


    Type of media :

    Report


    Type of material :

    No indication


    Language :

    English