ANALYSIS OF VEHICLE TIP STABILITY IN SIDE IMPACT TESTS. IN: OCCUPANT AND VEHICLE RESPONSES IN ROLLOVERS

This chapter, on vehicle tip stability in side impact tests, is from a comprehensive textbook on occupant and vehicle responses in rollovers. The authors describe results of a preliminary analysis of vehicle tip-over potential in US/DOT/NHTSA Side Impact New Car Assessment Program (SINCAP) tests. The analyses included examination of related accident data, an analysis of potential sources of variability in the SINCAP tests, and a sensitivity analysis of vehicle and test facility parameters by means of multi-body computer simulation. Results showed that fatal accidents involved multi-vehicle rollover were the least frequent among four accident types examined (multivehicle no rollover, multivehicle rollover, single vehicle no rollover, and single vehicle rollover); SUVs had the lowest fatality rate in such accidents, among the four vehicle types examined (passenger cars, utility vehicles, passenger vans, pickup trucks). The authors report that tip-over occurrence in the SINCAP test was found to be very sensitive to several unspecified test facility characteristics, which may vary among test facilities. This could result in the possibility of "tuning" a vehicle for no tipover in the SINCAP tests, with little or potentially even harmful effects on actual occupant protection and vehicle safety. The authors conclude that the SINCAP test is not suitable for analyzing vehicle rollover potential or rollover safety.