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.



146 Results
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Vehicle Classification and Equipment Type Crash Data and Market Survey

NHTSA evaluates market trends and crash data to understand how FMVSS affect motor vehicle safety. This report describes a crash data and market survey of five vehicle and equipment categories that all have unique relevance in the FMVSS: (1) large passenger vehicles, trucks, and SUVs excluded from FMVSS No. 208 air bag requirements (Class 2B); (2) limousines over 10,000 lbs. GVWR; (3) “entertainer” buses and motor homes over 26,000 lbs. GVWR; (4) medium buses that carry 11 or more occupants; and (5) motorcycle helmets. A market survey was conducted for all five vehicle and equipment categories, while the crash data analysis was conducted only for Class 2B large passenger vehicles of GVWR 8,500 lbs. to 10,000 lbs.

 DOT HS 813 156

Status of NHTSA’s Roof Ejection Mitigation Research

NHTSA is continuing its exploration of roof ejection mitigation that began following NHTSA’s issuance of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 226, “Ejection Mitigation,” which sets requirements to reduce the likelihood of complete and partial ejections of occupants through side windows during rollovers or side impact crashes. Three more platforms were identified for testing at NHTSA’s Vehicle Research and Test Center. The Lincoln MKZ, which is a large outer slider with production and countermeasure Protec II panels, and prototype roof air curtain designs from Hyundai-Mobis and Autoliv.

 DOT HS 813 416

A Modeling Study on Child Occupant Safety With Unconventional Seating Configurations

This study uses computer models to study how unconventional seating positions and orientations such as those conceptualized to be offered in vehicles with Automated Driving Systems may affect occupant response metrics of children restrained by child restraint systems (CRS) equipped with internal harnesses (CRS harness-restrained) or the vehicle lap-shoulder belt, with and without belt-positioning boosters. A total of 550 simulations were conducted with the CRABI 12MO in rear-facing CRS, the H33YO in both rear-facing and forward-facing CRS, the H36YO in a backless booster, and the H310YO with and without a booster across a range of conventional and unconventional seating locations and orientations under five impact directions and various CRS installation methods. This is the first study using different child ATDs and CRSs to investigate child occupant responses in a wide range of impact directions and seating orientations.

 DOT HS 813 434

Head-Up Displays and Distraction Potential

Head-up displays (HUDs) present opportunities and challenges for mitigating driver distraction.  HUDs may improve safety by reducing the time required to view driving-related information relative to a traditional head-down displays (HDDs).  However, because the HUD is in the driver’s field of view, drivers may fixate on it or fail to perceive events in the environment. This study investigated driver use of a HUD, an HDD, and an aftermarket display by measuring visual behavior during public road driving.

 DOT HS 813 293

Adaptive Driving Beam Headlighting Systems Rulemaking Support Testing

This report describes testing and analysis conducted to support resolution of NPRM comments about a compliance test procedure for adaptive driving beam (ADB) headlighting systems. NHTSA’s 2018 NPRM proposed to allow ADB on light vehicles in the United States and described a compliance test procedure based on full-vehicle in dynamic test scenarios performed on a test track. Testing involving NHTSA’s proposed ADB test procedure and SAE’s Surface Vehicle Recommended Practice J3069, Adaptive Driving Beam, provided data supporting resolution of test procedure related comments.. Dynamic illuminance measurements validated test procedure results for light source types; vehicle lower beam headlamp performance against ADB glare limit criteria; and whether ADB-equipped vehicles respond similarly when tested using the modified NHTSA test fixture versus a FMVSS-compliant vehicle. It was determined that a full-vehicle, dynamic performance test for ADB headlighting systems was suitable for FMVSS use and effective in determining whether an ADB headlighting system limits glare to other motorists to specified criteria.

 DOT HS 813 267

Development of an Automated Wheelchair Tiedown Restraint System for Automated Vehicles

This report describes a project to develop an automated wheelchair tiedown and occupant restraint systems (WTORS) that could be safely and independently used in automated vehicles by people who remain seated in their wheelchairs for travel. The literature review focuses on topics relevant to safe, independent use of automated vehicles to people who use wheelchairs. Other chapters discuss initial strategies on design space, prototype concepts, computational modeling, volunteer assessment, dynamic testing, validating frontal and side impact wheelchair models, optimization of WTORS restraint systems, hardware development for the wheelchair attachments, vehicle anchorages, and automated belt donning arm, considerations for implementing usable wheelchair seating stations, hardware evaluation by eight volunteer wheelchair users, evaluation of prototypes in ten frontal and eight far-side impacts, and remaining challenges.

 DOT HS 813 275

THOR-50M Repeatability And Reproducibility of Qualification Tests

This report documents NHTSA’s evaluation of the repeatability and reproducibility (R&R) of the 50th percentile Test Device for Human Occupant Restraint (THOR-50M) dummy in qualification tests. Repeatability (similarity of test responses from a single dummy when subjected to repeats of a given test condition) and reproducibility (similarity of test responses from several dummies when subjected to repeats of a given test condition) of the THOR-50M were evaluated by calculating the coefficient of variation values for each qualification test using several different dummies and test labs. With few exceptions, the results didn’t require a thorough review of the test procedures or necessitate the need for complete dummy inspections. Therefore, the THOR-50M R&R was deemed sufficient for use as a test tool for evaluating the safety of vehicles. Results obtained in a few tests identify areas for potential further investigation or provide opportunities to create future dummy enhancements.

 DOT HS 813 258

Rear-Seat Frontal Crash Protection Research With Application to Vehicles With Automated Driving Systems, Volume 1

This report is part of the overall FMVSS Considerations for Automated Driving Systems project and stemmed out of the potential considerations from the Volume 2 report that noted that “ADS-DV developments may be changing the role of the rear seat to be more like that of the front seat, affecting FMVSS No. 208 in particular.”  The research in this report is a proactive examination of frontal-crash protection for rear-seat occupants.  The project focus is the assessment of a 50th percentile male in the second-row rear seat using anthropomorphic test devices and finite element models.

 DOT HS 813 269

Crash Simulation of FMVSS No. 214 Safety Performance

This research used and developed detailed FE vehicle models to simulate FMVSS No. 214 static door crush, dynamic MDB, and VTP test conditions to compare intrusions, applied forces, and occupant metrics among baseline and modified vehicle simulations. The vehicle modifications were developed to meet or only partially meet FMVSS No. 214 static and dynamic test requirements.  The results were evaluated to consider the feasibility of using the dynamic performance measurements as a surrogate for the static test.

 DOT HS 813 276

Integrated Seat Belt System Model Development

This research report documents the development of a finite element model representing a seat with integrated seat belts from a recent model passenger vehicle. Static tests evaluated seat deformation and potential failure mechanisms. Dynamic tests with appropriate anthropomorphic test dummies evaluated occupant kinematics and injury in high-severity front- and rear-impact crashes. All test data, along with seat tear down measurements and component testing, factored into the development and validation of the FE model. The data from these tests was used to validate the seat model.

 DOT HS 813 116