Safety is one of the main criteria for new vehicle buyers and manufacturers must achieve excellent results in all safety requirements to ensure a successful new model launch. Additionally, the current safety requirements in the European market are higher than ever, especially in consumer tests as new dummies and crash configurations are being introduced. This paper focuses on the new dummy for lateral impact that will be introduced in the new Euro NCAP protocol in 2015.
For many years, all Side Impact Crash Test studies have been put into practice considering the results achieved from the EuroSID II dummy. The introduction of the WorldSID to the crash test world has become a milestone not only for vehicle manufacturers but also for crash test laboratories. Because of this, it is necessary to study the differences between the EuroSID II dummy and the new dummy to be used from now on.
An in-depth analysis of the structure of the WorldSID, its components and its instrumentation was studied so as to obtain a clearer view of what can be expected of the values achieved from testing the dummy.
Furthermore, a series of impact tests were defined based on side impact virtual tests, using the EuroSID II and the WorldSID; making a special effort to obtain crash test results from both dummies in very similar configurations. The results from these comparative tests were used to evaluate the correlation between the injury values that may be obtained from one test dummy and from the other. This procedure was carried out considering the injury criteria assessment values that are established in Euro NCAP Side Impact Protocols.
By comparing the impact that the side impact crashes can have on the individuals, and knowing that the WorldSID dummy has a higher tested bio-fidelity than the EuroSID II, it will be possible to discern if there are any weaknesses in the Passive Safety developments that have been made up to date. In this way it will be easier to improve the safety of future cars.
Nevertheless, WorldSID is a new dummy that has been recently introduced into the crash testing market and is therefore likely to undergo future improvements that may generate modifications in the results in the current version of the WorldSID dummy.
In conclusion, crash test laboratories and vehicle manufacturers must promptly adapt to the upcoming European Passive Safety Protocols. The availability of a clear result in the comparison between the EuroSID II dummy and the WorldSID dummy will enable future
Vehicle Passive Safety Analysis to be directed towards the correct path, ensuring an improvement in the biomechanical values and lowering the amount of injury risks that are subject to any kind of side impact crash.