Define automotive safety.
Automobile safety is the study and practice of design, construction, equipment and regulation to minimize
the occurrence and consequences of automobile accidents. Vehicle safety systems are designed to protect
occupants during accidents.
What are the different safety features incorporated with vehicle body?
Seat belt, Airbag, Crumble zone, Anti-lock braking system, Round shape bumper, Traction control, Safety
cage, Electric windows, Adaptive cruise control, Electronic stability control, Back up camera, Tire
pressure monitoring system, Low Step-in Height, Smart Climate Control, Reading Lamps,243-Degree
Doors, Power Outlets.
State the energy equations when two moving vehicles are making a head on collision.
K=(m- Δm) V2/2 = (σ2/2E) Al
m=Total mass of the vehicle, E=Youngs Modulus, A= Cross sectional area, σ=Stress in the material
Δm=Movable mass in the vehicle(Passenger,Load,etc.), V=Velocity
List out different engine location.
1. Front engine 2. Rear engine 3. Central mid-engine
What is meant by crumple zone?
The crumple zone of a vehicle such as an automobile is a structural feature designed to compress during
an accident to absorb energy from an impact. Typically, crumple zones are located in the front part of the
vehicle, in order to absorb the impact of a head-on collision. This innovation was first patented by
Mercedes-Benz in the early 1950s.
The safety of a vehicle and its passengers can be improved by properly designing and selecting the
material for vehicle bodies. The vehicle body structure is subjected to static and dynamic service loads
during the life cycle. It also has to maintain its integrity and provide adequate protection in survivable
crashes. At present there are two designs of vehicle body constructions: 1. Body over frame structure and
2. Uni body structure.
Necessary features of a safe vehicle body:
1. Deformable yet stiff front structure with crumple zones to absorb the crash kinetic energy from
frontal collisions
2. Deformable rear structure to safeguard rear passenger compartment and protect the fuel tank
3. Properly designed side structures and doors to minimize intrusion in side impact and prevent
doors from opening due to crash loads
4. Strong roof structure for rollover protection
5. Properly designed restraint systems with working in harmony with the vehicle structure
6. Accommodate various chassis designs for different power train locations and drive train
configuration
The following design techniques/strategies are to be followed while designing a car body
(especially front structure) to reduce the impact of crash and increase the safety of the car and
passengers.
Desired dummy performance:
Dummy is a physical model representing humans inside a car. To model a car for safety, it should be
modeled for proper crash energy management. As the human beings are to be safeguarded, the interaction
of the human beings with the restraint system during a crash has to be studied first. This branch of study is
widely known as bio-mechanics. The reaction of a human being for a crash pulse has to defined and
studied in depth. The following steps are involved in this procedure
Stiff cage structural concept:
Stiff cage is the passenger compartment structure which provides protection for the passengers in all
modes of survivable collisions. The necessary features of a good stiff cage structure are: 1. sufficient peak
load capacity to support the energy absorbing members in front of it, 2. High crash energy absorption. The
stiff cage structure should withstand all the extreme loads and the severe deformation.
Controlled progressive crush and deformation with limited intrusion:
To make the impact of crash less, the crush event has to be controlled and the deformation should be
made such that the intrusion of other components into the passenger compartment is less. Axial mode of
crush is preferred to bending mode of crush as bending mode has lower energy content. To achieve this
objective three different crush zones are identified: 1. Soft front zone: Reduces the aggressively of crash
in pedestrian / vehicle and vehicle / vehicle collisions
2. Primary crush zone: It consists of the main energy absorbing structure before the power train. It is
characterized by a relatively uniform progressive structural collapse.
3. Secondary crush zone:
Lies between the primary zone and passenger compartment and sometimes extends into the passenger
compartment up to firewall. It provides a stable platform for the primary zone and transfers the load to
the occupant compartment as efficiently as possible.
4. Weight efficient energy absorbing structures:
The architecture of the structural frame (structural topology) design depends on the ability to design the
primary crush zone for bending, folding, mixed folding and bending.
Deceleration on impact with a movable obstacle:
A movable obstacle can be another car or any other vehicle. Let us consider a car is impacting with
another car. We shall study for the two cars; one car which is impacting the second car, the other car is
which is being impacted. In this case the test is conducted at 40 mph.
Impacting vehicle:
Impacted vehicle:
