Frontal NCAP crash tests with rear-seat occupant

Figures & data

Figure 1. Vehicle dynamics in 35, 40 and 48 mph (56.3, 64.4 and 77.3 km/h) frontal barrier impacts, tests #5, #1 and #4.

Table 1. Initial NCAP testing with the 1980 Chevrolet Citation.

							Driver			Right-front passenger
DOT #	Date	Weight	Impact	Crush	Intrusion	Delta V^a	HIC	Head g	Chest 3ms	HIC	Head g	Chest 3ms
		lb	mph	in	in	mph		g	g		g	g
5	6/12/79	3,260	35.0	21.4	8.1	39.2	845	79.0	48.0	623	64.0	34.5
1	6/6/79	3,153	39.9	29.0	10.8	44.7	1039	100.0	60.0	1117	86.0	38.0
4	6/7/79	3,153	48.0	40.3	21.2	53.8	4167	315.0	94.5	2433	160.0	61.0
						IARV (Mertz et al. 2016)	1000	180	60	1000	180	60

^a Assuming e = 0.12 coefficient of restitution.

Table 2. 35 mph NCAP Cash tests with restrained occupants.

DOT				Weight	Impact	Crush	Intrusion
#	Date	MY	Vehicle	lb	mph	in	in
5	6/12/79	1980	Chevrolet Citation	3,260	35.0	21.4	8.1
7	7/10/79	1979	VW Rabbit^a	2,600	34.8	22.7	9.6
25	7/24/79	1979	Oldsmobile Cutlass	3,820	35.1	29.8	6.5
27	7/16/79	1979	Toyota Celica	3,025	34.8	24.2	6.9
35	5/24/79	1979	Nissan Datsun 210	2,425	35.2	25.1	--
63	8/28/79	1979	Plymoth Volare	3,836	35.0	23.9	7.3
64	9/7/79	1979	Chevrolet Monza	3,240	35.1	25.5	8.3
65	9/7/79	1979	Ford LTD	4,366	35.4	28.1	9.4
66	8/30/79	1979	Ford Granada	3,950	34.6	27.8	6.3
71	9/20/79	1979	Dodge Magnum	4,456	35.3	27.4	6.8
73	9/17/79	1979	Chevrolet Chevette^a	2,716	34.8	21.9	7.2
92	9/12/79	1979	Ford Fairmont	3,300	35.4	25.0	9.1
94	10/15/79	1979	Honda Civic	2,166	34.7	20.9	7.9
			avg	3,320	35.0	24.9	7.8
			sd	731	0.3	2.8	1.1
			95th CI for mean	397	0.1	1.5	0.6

^a Passive seatbelt.

Table 3. Occupant responses in the 35 mph NCAP Cash tests.

	Driver			Right-front passenger			Rear 6-year-old
		Head g	Chest 3ms		Head g	Chest 3ms			Head g	Chest 3ms
DOT #	HIC	g	g	HIC	g	g	Position^a	HIC	g	g	Roping^b
5	845	79.0	48.0	623	64.0	34.5	C	1450	105.0	61.0	--
7	1024	90.0	67.0	429	47.0	33.0	R	2193	103.0	52.0	--
25	997	72.0	58.0	799	59.0	37.0	C	--	--	--	--
27	849	94.0	61.0	1862	158.0	59.0	R	2055	145.0	75.0	--
35	1358	92.0	76.0	1745	88.0	59.4	R	1908	147.8	70.2	--
63	724	74.0	40.0	1677	200.0	40.0	R	1816	170.0	65.0	Yes
64	1108	103.0	42.0	1033	87.0	41.0	R	3497	176.0	67.0	Yes
65	1452	143.0	38.0	616	93.0	34.0	C	4390	188.0	65.0	Yes
66	1442	110.0	61.0	1279	99.0	56.0	C	1589	89.0	54.0	Yes
71	646	58.0	39.0	731	58.0	44.0	C	4354	185.0	60.0	Yes
73	871	118.0	47.0	859	88.0	45.0	R	4182	215.0	84.0	--
92	939	102.0	54.0	1583	94.0	85.0	C	2215	118.0	55.0	--
94	2030	116.0	92.6	2093	142.0	46.0	R	2886	145.0	45.5	Yes
avg	1099	96.2	55.7	1179	98.2	47.2		2711	148.9	62.8
sd	381	22.8	16.1	555	44.0	14.6		1111	39.3	10.6
95th CI	207	12.4	8.8	302	23.9	7.9		604	21.4	5.8
Tolerance	1000	180	60	1000	180	60		1000	189	93

^a C: center rear seat, R: right rear seat. ^bPost test notes indicate the occupant jackknifed around the lap belt causing the lap belt to rope and penetrate the abdominal area.

Figure 2. Head injury criterion (HIC) for lap-belted 6 yo dummy in rear seat of 35 mph NCAP crash tests.

Figure 3. Child kinematics with lap belt in rear seat in 35 mph frontal NCAP tests #65, #73 and #92.

Figure 4. Percent of IARV for HIC in the driver, right-front passenger and rear 6 yo child in 35 mph NCAP tests with significance of differences between the rear child and the driver or right-front passenger.

Mertz HJ, Irwin AL, Prasad P. 2016. Biomechanical and scaling basis for frontal and side impact injury assessment reference values. Stapp Car Crash J. 60:625–657. doi:10.4271/2016-22-0018.

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Data availability statement

The crash test movies, data and reports are available from the NHTSA website (https://www.nhtsa.gov/research-data/research-testing-databases#/) using the test number (#) as a guide. Additional information on the data analysis can be requested of the author at [email protected].