RESEARCH & EVALUATION

Vehicle Safety Research

Vehicle Safety

Resources
Reports Library (rosap)

The Office of Vehicle Safety Research and supports U.S. DOT’s and NHTSA’s safety goals by conducting research and safety testing of motor vehicles and motor vehicle equipment. 

NHTSA’s recently published vehicle safety reports are listed chronologically below.



156 Results
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Evaluation of LATCH Usability Tools Update

In 2015 NHTSA published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) for FMVSS No. 225, Child restraint anchorage systems, that proposed three new requirements for LATCH lower anchors in vehicles: a minimum clearance angle, a maximum attachment force, and a maximum depth of the anchor in the seat bight. These requirements were proposed to improve lower anchor usability and promote correct installation of child restraint systems. After the comment period for the NPRM, NHTSA reevaluated the proposed tools and procedures. This report documents the results of studies done to develop, evaluate, and modify the tools and associated procedures for assessing the usability of LATCH lower anchors. The final rule was published on January 7, 2025.

 DOT HS 813 229

Evaluation of Tether Anchor Zones for FMVSS No. 225

FMVSS No. 225, Child restraint anchorage systems, requires that nearly all motor vehicles be equipped with Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children (LATCH). Tether anchors are located rearward from the child restraint system (CRS), often found on the back of the vehicle seat or rear package shelf. A Notice of Proposed Rulemaking was released in January 2015 that proposed a vehicle clearance criterion that would allow proper tightening of the child restraint tether strap. University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute developed an alternate reference zone using the H-point and the R-point. Vehicle survey results showed all the tether anchor positions measured were within the current FMVSS No. 225 zone.

 DOT HS 812 842

Evaluation of FMVSS No. 305a Electric-Powered Vehicles: Water Exposure Safety

A Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in April 2024 proposed to amend FMVSS No. 305 to include performance requirements and risk mitigation for the rechargeable electrical energy storage system (REESS), and set a level of REES protection against external fault inputs, ensuring REESS operations are within the manufacturer-specified functional range, and increase the likelihood of safe operation of the REESS and other electrical systems during and after water exposure during normal use. To evaluate the proposed test protocols about this water exposure, NHTSA’s Vehicle Research and Test Center selected two Polestar 3 electric vehicles and performed the water exposure test methods as outlined in NPRM section S14.

 DOT HS 813 722

Heavy-Truck Rear-Impact-Guard Finite Element Simulation and Analysis

This report describes finite element modeling to develop computational models of rear-impact semi-trailer guards used to simulate quasi-static tests prescribed by FMVSS No. 223 tests as well as a motor vehicle crash into the rear of a truck semi-trailer. For the crash simulations, existing FE models of passenger cars were applied, along with models of two 50th percentile male representations, the THOR-50M and the Global Human Body Models Consortium M50-OS model. Three rear-impact guard designs were modelled.

 DOT HS 813 686

Annotated Bibliography of Pedestrian Data Sources

NHTSA contracted the Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress to conducted four distinct literature and data reviews: (1) literature concerning pedestrian injury risk and vehicle size, (2) literature investigating vehicle testing for pedestrian protection (i.e., hood and leg form testing), (3) current and projected vehicle market trends and how they may relate to pedestrian protection, and (4) vehicle crash data sources that include pedestrian conflicts. Task 4 is an Excel spreadsheet, Annotated Bibliography of Pedestrian Data Sources lists available sources of pedestrian crash data aiding continuing research on the causes of pedestrian fatalities. This task is an Excel spreadsheet, 16526d_Task4_LitReview_121024_v1_Pedestrian_Safety_Databases.xlsx.

 DOT HS 813 676d

Review of Literature Addressing Vehicle Pedestrian Safety Market Trends

NHTSA contracted the Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress to conducted four distinct literature and data reviews: (1) literature concerning pedestrian injury risk and vehicle size, (2) literature investigating vehicle testing for pedestrian protection (i.e., hood and leg form testing), (3) current and projected vehicle market trends and how they may relate to pedestrian protection, and (4) vehicle crash data sources that include pedestrian conflicts. Task 3, Review of Literature Addressing Vehicle Pedestrian Safety Market Trends details literature related to vehicle market trends about changing pedestrian safety technologies and testing requirements in the United States and other countries. Includes an Excel spreadsheet, 16526c_Task3_LitReviewBigLTVs_121024_v1_Market Trend Database (rev 1.13.25).xlsx.

 DOT HS 813 676c

Review of Literature Addressing Effects of Pedestrian Safety-Related Test Requirements on Vehicle Design, Fleet Composition, and Pedestrian Injury

NHTSA contracted the Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress to conducted four distinct literature and data reviews: (1) literature concerning pedestrian injury risk and vehicle size, (2) literature investigating vehicle testing for pedestrian protection (i.e., hood and leg form testing), (3) current and projected vehicle market trends and how they may relate to pedestrian protection, and (4) vehicle crash data sources that include pedestrian conflicts. Task 2, Review of Literature Addressing Effects of Pedestrian Safety-Related Test Requirements on Vehicle Design, Fleet Composition, and Pedestrian Injury details an extended literature review focusing on studies of the real-world effects of pedestrian safety-related regulations including vehicle test requirements such as the European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP) and the Japan New Car Assessment Program (Japan NCAP).

 DOT HS 813 676b

Review of Literature Addressing Pedestrian Injury Risk and Motor Vehicle Characteristics

NHTSA contracted the Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress to conducted four distinct literature and data reviews: (1) literature concerning pedestrian injury risk and vehicle size, (2) literature investigating vehicle testing for pedestrian protection (i.e., hood and leg form testing), (3) current and projected vehicle market trends and how they may relate to pedestrian protection, and (4) vehicle crash data sources that include pedestrian conflicts. Task 1, Review of Literature Addressing Pedestrian Injury Risk and Motor Vehicle Characteristics. Details a large body of literature directly or tangentially addressing the affect vehicle characteristics have on pedestrian injury outcome in the event of a crash. Includes an Excel spreadsheet, 16526a_Task1_LitReviewBigLTVs_annotated_bib_112624_v1 (rev 1.13.25).xlsx.

 DIT HS 813 676a

Passenger Vehicle Surrogate Test Target Radar Return Repeatability

This report identifies the variance in the radar cross section of one vehicle test device, a test surrogate designed to emulate a small passenger car. Additional work was done on heavy duty commercial and light duty passenger vehicles, of different classes and styles to for comparison. Descriptions of the test equipment, measurement process, evaluation method, and results are given.

 DOT HS 813 648

Heavy-Duty Vehicle Transmission Benchmarking – Volvo I-Shift 12-Speed Automated Manual Transmission

This report benchmarks the Volvo I-Shift AT2612F 12-speed automated manual transmission used in Class 8 trucks. Benchmarking tests included component level and system level and system level performance of overall transmission efficiency, in-gear inertia maps, oil pump mapping, ratio determination, and shifting strategies.

 DOT HS 813 620