Offset Frontal Test Research Articles

Applying Analytical Hierarchy Process to Evaluate Adult Occupant Protection on Body Region in ASEAN NCAP Offset Frontal Test Domain


 
 
 Adult Occupant Protection (AOP) is a vital area of evaluation in all New Car Assessment Programs (NCAPs) around the globe. The primary objective of these new car assessment programs is to reduce road deaths by focusing on vehicle (pre-crash) safety features. Starting from the year 2017 until 2020, a single rating system has been introduced whereby AOP contributes 50% to the overall rating with a maximum of 36 points; split into three main domains including offset frontal test (OFT), side impact test (SIT) and head protection technology (HPT). However, the extent of OFT protection to car drivers and passengers during a collision still needs to be explored. Therefore, in this study, an evaluation of body region injury due to AOP failure in frontal crash is conducted to validate and support NCAP rating. Analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is put forward on the basis of expert's input from various related fields to evaluate the injury to body regions and OFT protection during an accident based on the current situation. The results show that head, neck and chest indicated the highest severity, followed by knee, femur and lower leg with respect to the Consistency Ratio (CR) of 0.0633. This was in line with the focus of ASEAN NCAP's AOP protocol whereby the three body regions were deemed as the critical parts and required sufficient protection. Based on the findings, it is proven that ASEAN NCAP's consideration of OFT in AOP is well developed and suits the current needs.
 
 

Evaluation of Adult Occupant Protection on Body Region using Analytical Hierarchy Process: Side Impact Test


 
 
 ASEAN NCAP is a well-known automobile safety rating program in evaluating new cars for performance against various safety threats on the road. For the Southeast Asian countries, Adult Occupant Protection (AOP), Child Occupant Protection (COP) and Safety Assist Technology (SAT) are domains used in the ASEAN NCAP assessment. In a recent rating protocol, the AOP domain contributes 50 percent of the overall rating system with a maximum 36 points from three main elements consisting of Offset Frontal Test (OFT), Side Impact Test (SIT) and Head Protection Technology (HPT). Frontal crashes resulted in a severe injury that comes from contact with frontal components and ejection; however, side crashes are also reported to have high rates of serious injury and fatality as compared to other crash types. However, in the ASEAN NCAP assessment programme, to what extent side impact test helps to reduce the severity of injury to the car driver and passenger when the collision happened need to be explored. Therefore, the injury of body region on the side impact due to AOP failure were evaluated and reported in this paper to strengthen this program where the recommendation for performing side impact test could be proposed to ensure successful performance. The elements on the side impact test were extracted and decomposed from the existing structure. Next, input from the expert panels of various related backgrounds regarding the injury of body region on side impact test was gathered and evaluated using the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). The result shows that the head, neck, and chest have the highest rank, followed by an abdomen with a Consistency Ratio (CR) of 0.0079. The finding of this paper will help to evaluate the existing side impact test in the AOP assessment.
 
 

Evaluation of ASEAN NCAP’s Adult Occupant Protection on Body Region using Analytical Hierarchy Process


 
 
 Global efforts in reducing road accidents were lead to the existence of a new car assessment program to ensure that the produced car may give life protection from traumatic death or injuries. Adult Occupant Protection (AOP), Child Occupant Protection (COP) and Safety Assist Technology (SAT) are domains used for the New Car Assessment Program for Southeast Asian Countries (ASEAN NCAP). Focusing on AOP domain, it is contributing for 50% of the overall rating system of ASEAN NCAP with a maximum 36 points from three main assessments: (1) offset frontal test (OFT), (2) side impact test (SIT) and (3) head protection technology (HPT). However, for this study, only OFT and SIT assessments are focused. Knowing that ASEAN NCAP is struggling to provide an accurate assessment of every new car evaluation. However, it is also important to ensure that the accurate assessment stays relevant. So, to what extend OFT and SIT may be giving protection to the car driver and passenger if there is any collision, need to be explored. Therefore, experts from various related industries were gathered in one expert panel meeting to brainstorm and discuss how OFT and SIT work and how robust they can be giving protection when an accident happens. Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) is used to analyse the experts’ input. Based on the finding, it is proved that the ASEAN NCAP assessment for AOP with considering OFT and SIT assessments were well developed and suitable to the current needs. In the future, cars on the road will become safer due to every party response to the ASEAN NCAP initiative positively.
 
 

Seatbelt effectiveness for rear seat occupants in full and offset frontal crash tests

In Japan, it became mandatory for rear seat occupants to wear seatbelts as of 2008. This paper summarises the results of full car crash tests for rear seat occupants, and compares the kinematics and injury risk to belted and unbelted rear sear occupants in order to show the effectiveness of seatbelts. Full-width rigid barrier and offset frontal impact tests were conducted using Hybrid III fifth percentile female and 3-year-old dummies in belted or unbelted conditions in the rear seat. In both full and offset frontal tests, the injury measures of the belted fifth female and 3-year-old dummies in the rear seat were relatively low because contact with the car interior was prevented by the seatbelt, although the head injury criterion and the chest deflection of the fifth female dummy were relatively large. In the tests with the fifth female dummy not belted, its knees and head made contact with the front seatback and the head of the front seat dummy, respectively. Due to this impact by the fifth female dummy, the injury measures of the driver dummy became high. The unbelted 3-year-old dummy moved in the passenger compartment, making contact with several locations in the car. These test results were comparable with accident analyses that show high injury risks to the chest of belted rear seat occupants, and high injury risks to the head and lower extremities in unbelted rear seat occupants.