ANALYSIS OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF BUMPER STANDARD FMVSS 215

The primary objective of this paper is to evaluate the effectiveness of crash-protecting automobile bumpers as required by Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 215-Exterior Protection, Passenger Cars. This study focused on three distinct versions of the standard: (a) the initial 1973 regulations that required compliance with a barrier test, (b) regulations after 1974 that required both a pendulum and an upgraded barrier test, and (c) regulations after 1978 that limited total vehicular damage as a result of the pendulum and barrier tests. Following the recommendations of several previous studies, insurance claims were used as the data base. A comprehensive data base provided by the State Farm Insurance Company was categorized by vehicle model years that represent four time periods--1972, 1973, 1974-1978, and 1979--and into vehicle-size classes, impact points, vehicle age, and repaired and replaced damaged bumper categories. By using reported claims and average cost of these claims as measures of effectiveness, it was shown that the model years with more protective bumper systems experienced significantly lower proportions of bumper-related claims relative to all property-damage claims. However, in general, these model years also had higher average repair costs. The reduced percentages of bumper-related claims were primarily attributable to decreased claims that involve bumpers being replaced rather than claims that involve bumper repair only. (Author)

• Record URL:
  • http://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/trr/1982/844/844-004.pdf
• Summary URL:
  • http://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?title=ANALYSIS+OF+THE+EFFECTIVENESS+OF+BUMPER+STANDARD+FMVSS+215&author=P.+Abramson&author=H.+Stein&author=J.+Cohen&author=J.+Werner&publication_year=1982
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• Supplemental Notes:
  • Publication of this paper sponsored by Committee on Highway Vehicle Research. Distribution, posting, or copying of this PDF is strictly prohibited without written permission of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences. Unless otherwise indicated, all materials in this PDF are copyrighted by the National Academy of Sciences. Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
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• Authors:
  • Abramson, Paul
  • Stein, Howard
  • Cohen, Jay W
  • Werner, John V
• Conference:
  • 61st Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board
  • Location: Washington District of Columbia, United States
  • Date: 1982-1-18 to 1982-1-22
• Publication Date: 1982

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: pp 12-19
• Monograph Title: AUTOMOTIVE TECHNOLOGY, INFORMATION NEEDS OF HIGHWAY USERS, AND PROMOTION OF SAFETY BELT USAGE
• Serial:
  • Transportation Research Record
  • Issue Number: 844
  • Publisher: Transportation Research Board
  • ISSN: 0361-1981

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Bumpers; Compliance; Crash tests; Crashworthiness; Insurance; Loss and damage; Measures of effectiveness; Motor vehicles; Repairing; Service life; Standards; Traffic barriers; Vehicle size
• Uncontrolled Terms: Barriers; Effectiveness; Repairs; Vehicle age
• Subject Areas: Design; Highways; Research; Safety and Human Factors; Vehicles and Equipment; I91: Vehicle Design and Safety;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00367445
• Record Type: Publication
• ISBN: 0309033225
• Report/Paper Numbers: HS-033 615
• Files: HSL, TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: Dec 30 1983 12:00AM