Subcompact Vehicle Energy Absorbing Steering Column Evaluation and Improvement. Volume I: Analysis of Accident Data Engineer's Point of View

摘要

The report describes the statistical analysis of automobile accident cases for the purpose of determining the injury causing factors involved in subcompact vehicle driver-steering assembly interaction during impact. The statistical analysis techniques discussed are 'Principal Component Analysis', 'Contingency Table Analysis', and 'Discriminant Function Analysis'. These techniques were applied to data sets consisting of 108 Multidisciplinary Accident Investigation team cases and 53 cases recorded by the University of Birmingham, England, Accident Research Unit. The accidents analyzed consisted of frontal impacts of unrestrained drivers. The analysis developed a methodology for the determination and illustration of the injury causing and injury indicating factors in automobile accidents. This is Volume I of the project interim report and describes the analysis from the engineer's point of view.