Overview of Vehicle Safety Research

							                                                 February 9, 2009




Overview of
Vehicle Safety Research
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
U.S. Department of Transportation
Agenda
• NVS & VSR Organization
• Fatality Trends
• NHTSA Research Programs
 ▫   Crashworthiness
 ▫   Biomechanics
 ▫   Crash Avoidance
 ▫   Trucks
 ▫   Tires
• ITS Research Programs
Vehicle Safety (NVS) Organization
Research (VSR) Organization
Persons Killed & Rate 100M VMT
6                                                                        60,000
                              Persons killed   Fatality rate/100M VMT
5                                                                        50,000

4                                                                        40,000

3                                                                        30,000

2                                                                        20,000

1                                                                        10,000

0                                                                        0
    66 68 70 72 74 76 78 80 82 84 86 88 90 92 94 96 98 00 02 04 06
                                                               Source: 2006 FARS
Motor Vehicle Fatalities
  Passenger Vehicle Occupants    Motorcycle Riders    Truck & Bus Occupants/Non‐Motorists
45,000
40,000                                        7,385 7,385
          7,107 6,823 6,956 6,892 7,078 6,935             6,972
35,000
          2,483 2,897 3,197 3,270 3,661 4,008 4,576 4,837
30,000                                                    5,154

25,000
20,000
15,000   32,127 32,225 32,043 32,843 31,904 31,693 31,547 30,686 28,933
10,000
 5,000
    0
            99       00         01     02        03      04       05       '06      '07
Frontal & Side Impact
Crashworthiness
                •     Reviewing why people die in
                      frontal crashes
                •     Align research program to address
                      major problem areas




                          •   Side impact rule adds head
                              protection
                          •   Anticipates over 300 lives
                              saved
                    75º   •   New dummies
Ejection Mitigation Research
                                  Ejection Mitigation
• Analyzed the Safety Problem
• Developed Hardware and Test
  Procedures
• Evaluated Countermeasure
  Effectiveness and Feasibility
• Evaluating Current Fleet
  Performance
Child Safety Crashworthiness
     How are kids injured?                 3 YO side impact test
              1%
Frontal   12%
Side     9%
Rear            52%
Rollover 26%
Other



                             •   Research Efforts Underway:
                                  –   Evaluating test procedures for 10 yr old Hybrid
                                      III dummy in booster seats
                                  –   Developing side impact test procedure and
                                      dummy for child seat evaluation
                                  –   Coordinating research for response
                                      requirements of 6 yr. old frontal and side
                                      dummies
 10 YO front sled test
Dummy and Injury Criteria
Development




 Component tests    Scaling Response            Crash reconstruction
 and models         Corridors injury criteria   Real world injury



                                                 Optimized dummy
                                                     response
                                                   requirements
                                                  and associated
                                                   injury criteria


 Whole body tests
 Volunteer data
Advanced Technologies
                • Recent Technologies
                  ▫ ESC, LDW, FCW
                  ▫ Incorporated into NCAP
                • Technologies for future
                  consideration
                  ▫ Crash Imminent Braking (CIB)
                  ▫ Lane Keeping Assist (LKA)
                  ▫ Dynamic Brake Support (DBS)
Backover Avoidance Research

                                             • Tested OE and
                                               aftermarket systems for
                                               mandated report to
                                               Congress.


• Testing systems on medium straight
  trucks.
• Recently released human factors research
  regarding rear-view video.
• Recently released NiTS data which
  includes new estimates on non-traffic
  backover fatalities and injuries
• http://www.nhtsa.gov/staticfiles/DOT/NHT
  SA/NCSA/Content/NiTS/811085.pdf
Electronic Stability Control Research

• Researching Heavy
  Truck ESC and RSC
  systems.

• Developing
  requirements for
  future consideration
Vehicle Lighting

 Forward Lighting   Conspicuity   Rear Lighting
Development of Advanced Alcohol
Sensing Technology
• A cooperative research and development effort
  ▫ NHTSA and Automotive Coalition for Traffic Safety (ACTS)
  ▫ 5 Year Effort
• Concept: In-vehicle capability to detect impairment
  before vehicle can be operated
• Significant technical as well as public acceptance
  challenges
• Status
  ▫ Technical contractor selected
  ▫ RFI completed
  ▫ RFP process underway
Driver Monitoring Systems                     In-Vehicle
                                              Impairment
                                              Detection
•   Safety Belt Reminder Systems
•   Distraction Monitoring System
•   Teen Driver Monitoring
•   Alcohol Impairment Monitoring

                                    SAVE-IT
Driver Assistance Systems
Forward Collision, Lane Change, Road Departure,
Adaptive Cruise Control, Night Vision


Systems



                                             Driver Warning Interface Research




Driver response time to collision warnings
Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS)
• Application of advanced technologies to improve
  transportation safety and mobility
NHTSA ITS Activities
• IVBSS
  ▫ Rear-end, run-off-the-road, and lane-
    change crash countermeasure                                     Head-up
    systems                                 GPS/Map
                                            System              !
                                                                    Displa y Tones
                                                                               Vision

  ▫ Phase 2 underway
                                                                               System



• CICAS
  ▫ Stop sign & signal violation warning
  ▫ Completed Phase 1
                                             Data Acquisition        Forward
                                             System                  Radar Sensor


• VII
  ▫ Deployment of an integrated
    communications infrastructure
  ▫ NHTSA working on safety applications
• NG911 (NTI)
  ▫ Foundation for public emergency
    services in a wireless mobile society