Brazil’s new vehicle front impact safety standards — ABNT NBR 15300-1 & ABNT NBR 15300-2 or ABNT NBR 15300-3: Is the manufacturerer choice the safest for the passenger?

Abstract

To increase car passenger safety, the Brazilian National Traffic Council (CONTRAN) released Resolution 221, which defines the maximum passenger and driver biomechanical criteria in the event of a vehicle frontal impact. The vehicle maximum allowed biomechanical injury criteria will be enforced from January 2012 for new vehicles and in January 2014 for vehicles in production before January 2014. To standardize the test method to measure the driver and front passenger injury values in a frontal crash, Resolution 221 states that the tests must be performed according to the ABNT NBR 15300-1 standard, followed by the ABNT NBR 15300-2 standard or the ABNT NBR 15300-3 standard. The use of ABNT NBR 15300-2 or ABNT NBR 15300-3 standards is a free choice for the manufacturer of the vehicle. The ABNT NBR 15300-1 + 15300-2 test is similar to the FMVSS 208 standard in the United States in terms of its vehicle frontal impact test perpendicular to a rigid barrier with the use of seat belts by male model dummies. The test according to ABNT NBR 15300-1 + 15300-3 follows the European ECE R94 and 96/79/EC standards. However, ABNT NBR 15300-2 focuses on occupant protection during vehicle deceleration rather than occupant protection during vehicle deformation in a crash test. ABNT NBR 15300-3 tests occupant protection during vehicle deformation more than it tests occupant protection during vehicle deceleration. Therefore, this paper aims to show the types of test results produced by the ABNT NBR 15300-2 and ABNT NBR 15300-3 standards and their differences concerning occupant protection verification and discuss the manufacturer’s freedom of choice.