SAFETY CONSEQUENCES OF THE SHIFT TO SMALL CARS IN THE 1980'S
The number of motor vehicle occupant fatalities, now at 35,000 annually, has increased for the past five years; and the growing shift to small cars is adding to the traffic safety problem. Small cars are less safe because they are subjected to greater forces in collisions with larger, heavier vehicles. As demonstrated by the Research Safety Vehicle Program, automakers can readily design small cars incorporating improved safety at minimal costs. Vehicle design improvements can increase the likelihood of surviving a crash without serious injury, including crash energy management (to absorb, control, and reduce crash forces on the occupants via improved structural design); improved structural integrity (to prevent occupants from being ejected, trapped, burned, or crushed by the steering column or by compartment collapse); and occupant restraints (to prevent or cushion the second collisions of the occupant with the vehicle interior). If the Federal standard for automatic crash protection (air bags and automatic seat belts) is implemented on schedule, it is estimated that between 10,500 and 13,600 lives will be saved in 1990 and nearly 250,000 by 2000. To provide protection in side impacts, a planned crash protection standard covers strengthened and padded doors and door frames, and redesigned window glazing and seat structure.
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Corporate Authors:
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
Washington, DC United States 20590 -
Authors:
- Boehly, W A
- LOMBARDO, L V
- Publication Date: 1980
Media Info
- Features: References;
- Pagination: 27 p.
Subject/Index Terms
- TRT Terms: Air bags; Compact automobiles; Fatalities; Manual safety belts; Passive restraint systems; Restraint systems; Safety; Side crashes; Traffic safety; Vehicle design
- Old TRIS Terms: Occupant restraint; Small car
- Subject Areas: Design; Safety and Human Factors;
Filing Info
- Accession Number: 00367311
- Record Type: Publication
- Source Agency: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
- Report/Paper Numbers: HS-805 506
- Files: HSL, USDOT
- Created Date: Aug 30 1982 12:00AM