Basic Research in Crashworthiness II-Frontal Car Impact Tests of Unmodified Vehicles.

摘要

The report presents results of four car-to-car head-on impact tests. The four tests involved a Ford sedan impacting a Ford, Buick,Chevrolet Nova and a Chevrolet Vega,respectively. All four tests were conducted using unmodified vehicles impacting at a nominal 40 MPH for each vehicle (i. e., 80 MPH closing speed). Results obtained from piggyback air cushion tests are also included for the Ford/Buick,Ford/Nova and Ford/Vega tests. It is emphasized here that these installations were state-of-the-art systems (i.e., 30 MPH design speed) fitted to compartment geometry not optimum for the particular design. Hence,the results should be interpreted as baseline data only --and not as performance data.