Preliminary Evaluation of Advanced Air Bag Field Performance Using Event Data Recorders
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DOT HS 811 015 August 2008 Preliminary Evaluation of Advanced Air Bag Field Performance Using Event Data Recorders This document is available to the public from the National Technical Information Service, Springfield, Virginia 22161 This publication is distributed by the U.S. Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, in the interest of information exchange. The opinions, findings, and conclusions expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the Department of Transportation or the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The United States Government assumes no liability for its content or use thereof. If trade or manufacturers’ names or products are mentioned, it is because they are considered essential to the object of the publication and should not be construed as an endorsement. The United States Government does not endorse products or manufacturers. 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FUNDING NUMBERS Preliminary Evaluation of Advanced Air Bag Field Performance Using Event Data Recorders HS50/DG048 6. AUTHOR(S) H. Clay Gabler (Virginia Tech), Craig P. Thor (Virginia Tech), and John Hinch (NHTSA) 7. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) 8. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION REPORT NUMBER U.S. Department of Transportation Research and Innovative Technology Administration DOT-VNTSC-NHTSA-08-02 Volpe Center Cambridge, MA 02142 9. SPONSORING/MONITORING AGENCY NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) 10. SPONSORING/MONITORING U.S. Department of Transportation AGENCY REPORT NUMBER National Highway Traffic Safety Administration 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE. DOT HS 811 015 Washington, DC 20590 11. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES Organization contracting to RITA/VNTSC: Virginia Tech, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Blacksburg, VA 24060 12a. DISTRIBUTION/AVAILABILITY STATEMENT 12b. DISTRIBUTION CODE This report is free of charge from the NHTSA Web site at www.nhtsa.dot.gov 13. ABSTRACT (Maximum 200 words) This report describes a preliminary evaluation of the field performance of occupant restraint systems designed with advanced air bag features including those specified in the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 208 for advanced air bags, through the use of event data recorders. Although advanced restraint systems have been extensively tested in the laboratory, we are only beginning to understand the performance of these systems in the field. Because EDRs record many of the inputs to the advanced air bag control module, these devices can provide unique insights into the characteristics of field performance of air bags. This research program investigates the feasibility of using EDR data to evaluate advanced air bags. Specifically, this report discusses (1) the development of an expanded EDR dataset based on data retrieved from NASS/CDS 2005, SCI, and CIREN in-depth crash investigations, (2) the validation of the accuracy of EDRs in full-scale crash tests, and (3) the feasibility of using EDRs to monitor the performance of advanced air bag restraints in real-world crashes. 14. SUBJECT TERMS 15. NUMBER OF PAGES Event data recorder, traffic crash, air bag 68 16. PRICE CODE 17. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION 18. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION 19. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION 20. LIMITATION OF ABSTRACT OF REPORT OF THIS PAGE OF ABSTRACT Unclassified Unclassified Unclassified NSN 7540-01-280-5500 Standard Form 298 (Rev. 2-89) Prescribed by ANSI Std. 239-18 298-102 Acknowledgments The authors wish to acknowledge the U.S. Department of Transportation's Volpe National Transportation Systems Center (Volpe Center) and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for their support of this research effort. Specifically, we would like to thank Marco daSilva of the Volpe Center. Special thanks to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and NHTSA for contributing the EDRs data from their crash tests for this study. Thanks to Ford and Toyota for retrieving the data from EDRs that the research team could not download with the Vetronix Crash Data Retrieval System. We also wish to acknowledge the crash test organizations that harvested and collected the NHTSA EDRs for this study: Transportation Research Center (East Liberty, OH), Karco Engineering (Adelanto, CA), MGA Research Corporation (Akron, NY), and CALSPAN (Buffalo, NY). Finally, thanks to Ashley Thompson, our Virginia Tech undergraduate research assistant, for her help in the organization and analysis of the EDR data. iv Table of Contents REPORT DOCUMENTATION PAGE ..................................................................iii Acknowledgments .............................................................................................iv List of Figures ....................................................................................................vi List of Tables......................................................................................................ix 1. Introduction and Background .................................................................1 2. Development of the EDR Dataset ...........................................................2 3. EDR Validation in Full-Systems Crash Tests.........................................4 4. Evaluation of the Field Performance of Advanced Air Bags ..............20 5. Conclusions............................................................................................42 6. References..............................................................................................44 Appendix A – Comparison of Longitudinal Delta V in EDR Data and Crash Test Instrumentation ........................................................................................45 Appendix B – Analysis of Frontal NCAP Air Bag Deployment Times ..........52 Appendix C – Computation of Acceleration from EDR Delta V data ............55 v List of Figures Figure 1. Comparison of Vehicle Velocity versus Time Computed from Crash Test Instrumentation with Associated EDR Data (NHTSA Test 5602)...........9 Figure 2. EDR Recording Duration versus Actual Crash Pulse Duration ...........12 Figure 3. EDR Longitudinal Delta V versus Crash Test Delta V Over Full Crash Pulse Duration .............................................................................................13 Figure 4. EDR Longitudinal Delta V versus Crash Test Delta V at t=100 ms.....14 Figure 5. Lateral Delta V of 2004 Chevrolet Malibu in Frontal Pole Test (IIHS Test CF05003).....................................................................................................19 Figure 6. Distribution of Longitudinal Delta V Values in Deployment Events ......21 Figure 7. General Area of Damage in Most Harmful Event in Deployment Crashes .......................................................................................................22 Figure 8. Number of Impact Events in Each Crash Involving a Frontal Air Bag Deployment as Observed by NASS Investigator .........................................22 Figure 9. Frequency of Deployment Crashes with Multiple Events Involving Longitudinal Delta V Component as Recorded by EDR...............................23 Figure 10. Distribution of Vehicle Speed Approximately One Second Before Impact in Deployment Events ......................................................................25 Figure 11. Probability of Deployment of Driver Air Bag by Longitudinal Delta V 26 Figure 12. Distribution of Right-Front Passenger Air Bag Deployment Decisions by Delta V ....................................................................................................27 Figure 13. Distribution of Driver Air Bag Dual-Stage, Single-Stage, and Non- Deployments versus Delta V........................................................................27 Figure 14. Longitudinal Delta V versus Vehicle Speed Just Before Collision in CAC Deployment Cases..............................................................................28 Figure 15. First-Stage Deployment Times versus Model Year in Frontal NCAP Tests............................................................................................................29 Figure 16. Cumulative Distribution (%) of Driver First-Stage Air Bag Deployment versus Deployment Time (msec) .................................................................30 Figure 17. Case 2004-50-087 EDR Delta V (mph) versus Time (msec) ............35 Figure 18. Case 2004-50-087 Differentiated EDR Delta V (mph) versus Time (msec)..........................................................................................................35 Figure 19. Case 2001-41-133 EDR Delta V (mph) versus Time (msec) ............36 Figure 20. Case 2004-12-052 Impact