Air Bag Technology in Light Passenger Vehicles

摘要

In December 1997, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) sent211u001ean information request to nine automobile manufacturers requesting detailed 211u001etechnical information on the current industry practice on air bag technologies, 211u001eand how air bag design and performance characteristics had evolved through the 211u001e1990's. The manufacturers provided the agency with the requested data, much of 211u001ewhich was proprietary and confidential. The data included information on MY 1990 211u001ethrough MY 1998 vehicles. This report uses those data, as well as other available 211u001einformation, to illustrate the general trends in air bag design and performance 211u001echaracteristics. It also uses data from static and dynamic tests of various air 211u001ebags and an assessment of air bag performance in terms of injury measures made on 211u001edummies representing occupants under low speed and high speed conditions. It also 211u001ediscusses the results of investigations of real world crashes by NHTSA's Special 211u001eCrash Investigations office. The report is only intended to provide an overview 211u001eof the trends in air bag characteristics and design changes. The limited analyses 211u001epresented in this report are not intended to be a comprehensive report on the 211u001eprojected safety performance of the past, present, or future vehicle fleet.