INJURIES IN COLLISIONS INVOLVING SMALL CARS IN EUROPE

Some of the characteristics of traffic accidents involving small cars in Europe are reviewed. A classification procedure is suggested whereby crashes may be categorized by their equivalent test in the laboratory. A sample of accidents is used to illustrate this procedure and the collision characteristics. The limited relevance of the distributed frontal barrier test to real world accidents is shown. Examples of particular features which produce injury are illustrated by cases. Three-point belts are discussed, and some injuries associated with poor positioning are illustrated. Small car steering assembly design is mentioned because field experience suggests that actual function of the steering assemblies in crashes is still not optimal. Problems of seat deformation and mounting failures in relation to injury patterns are discussed briefly, and the crash performance of glass reinforced plastics is mentioned.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Presented at the International Automotive Engineering Congress, Detroit, Michigan, 8-12, Jan. 1973.
• Corporate Authors:

  Society of Automotive Engineers

  485 Lexington Avenue
  New York, NY  United States  10017
• Authors:
  • MacKay, M
  • Ashton, S
• Publication Date: 1973-1

Media Info

• Pagination: 10 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Compact automobiles; Crash injury research; Crash investigation; Frontal crashes; Manual safety belts; Steering gears; Traffic crashes; Vehicle classification
• Old TRIS Terms: Small car
• Subject Areas: Highways; Research; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00081883
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: SAE #730284 Paper
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Apr 22 1975 12:00AM