Crashworthiness research at the NHMRC Road Accident Research Unit

Abstract

The NHMRC Road Accident Research Unit (RARU) at the University of Adelaide has investigated aspects of vehicle crashworthiness for many years. Recently, this work has concentrated on head injury prevention, for both vehicle occupants and pedestrians. The nature and severity ofbrain injuries to car occupants has been studied in relation to the object struck by the head and the location of the impact on the head. RARU has used this information to assess the likely benefits from padding the upper interior of the passenger compartment in terms of reducing the incidence and severity of brain injury. With support from the Federal Office of Road Safety, RARU is also developing a test facility to investigate the level of protection afforded to a pedestrian by current model passenger cars in car/pedestrian collisions. The procedure consists of three sub-system tests which consider loading to the head, the upper leg and the knee joint. The test procedure has been developed by the European Experimental Vehicles Committee and is currently being considered for adoption as a European vehicle safety standard. RARU is also using the facility to physically reconstruct fatal pedestrian accidents and to study the aggressiveness of bullbars.