Entries Tagged 'crash test' ↓

TOKYO, Japan, September 18, 2008 - Honda Motor Co., Ltd. announced that it will begin using its new third generation pedestrian dummy, POLAR III, in vehicle-to-pedestrian crash tests before the end of this year, with the aim of reducing pedestrian lower back and upper leg injuries which are common in collisions between a pedestrian and a SUV or mini-van.

With POLAR III, the reproduction fidelity for the lower back and upper leg areas has been further improved enabling the evaluation of bone fractures in these areas in addition to the prior ability to evaluate injuries to knee ligaments and fractures to lower leg bones.

In 1998, Honda became the first in the world to develop a pedestrian crash test dummy to reproduce the human body’s kinematics during vehicle-to-pedestrian collisions, with the aim of identifying parts of the vehicle body most often resulting in injuries, and developing safety technologies to reduce pedestrian head injuries during the collision with a vehicle. In 2000, Honda broadened the scope of its effort to mitigate pedestrian injuries by developing the second generation pedestrian dummy, POLAR II, which improved reproduction fidelity of the human body’s kinematics and measured the level of injury in eight body areas, including the head and neck through use of embedded instruments. Additionally, Honda conducted independently developed simulations in which the kinematics of the body and injuries were reproduced.

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Euro NCAP today releases the results for five cars in five different vehicle classes: the Daihatsu Cuore, Hyundai i30, Lancia Delta, Renault Koleos and the Mercedes Benz - ML class. Four of these five cars received the maximum five-star award for adult occupant protection. Yet, not one of them achieved higher than a two star score in Euro NCAP’s pedestrian rating. Euro NCAP plans to address this concern with the launch of a new rating system in 2009.

When Euro NCAP was established in 1997 the achievement of five stars in adult occupant protection did not even seem possible. Ten years later, out of the 34 car models tested and assessed by Euro NCAP in one year, 97% of them achieve either a four or a five star result. Yet there are still areas of safety that Euro NCAP believes need to be prioritised by manufacturers and where lives could be saved. In comparison to these good adult occupant protection results, no manufacturer achieves a four star result in pedestrian protection. In our tests last year, 67% of models were awarded just two stars in this rating, despite approaching legislation. Euro NCAP is concerned that many manufacturers set out to achieve high scores for adult occupant protection to attract consumers, whilst compromising safety investment in other areas. Euro NCAP believes that consumers are interested in the safety offered to all occupants and also to other road users when they are choosing a new car. For this reason, Euro NCAP is developing a new rating system that will reward the overall safety of a vehicle.

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New small SUVs received high enough marks in the latest round of insurance industry crash tests that testers recommend them over small cars for buyers looking for more fuel-efficient rides.

Among eight new models tested by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, four earned the “top safety pick” award — the Ford Escape, Volkswagen Tiguan, Nissan Rogue and Mitsubishi Outlander — for highest grades in front, side and rear crashes.

Other SUVs tested — the Suzuki Grand Vitara, the Chevrolet Equinox and the Jeep Patriot — received a mix of grades. And the new Jeep Wrangler suffered the only poor score, recorded on the test for side-impact protection, a downgrade from the old model’s results.

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