SAFETY IN CARSSEMINAR

ON

BY AMAN SADANA 2008 JDS 6011

Automobile safety is the avoidance of automobile accidents or the minimization of harmful effects of accidents, in particular as pertaining to human life and health. Numerous safety features have been built into cars for years, some for the safety of car's occupants only, some for the safety of others.

Road traffic injuries still represent about 25% of worldwide injury-related deaths (the leading cause) with an estimated 1.2 million deaths each year - World Health Organization .

POINT TO NOTE

Major factors in accidents include: •driving under the influence of intoxicants•inattentive driving; •crash compatibility between vehicles; •driving while fatigued or unconscious; •encounters with road hazards such as potholes, crossing animals, etc… •reckless driving.

.In 1930 physician C. J. Strickland advocated the use of seat belts.In 1934 GM performed the first barrier crash test.In 1944 Volvo introduced the first safety cage to modern carsIn 1949 SAAB incorporated aircraft safety thinking into automobiles.In 1950 Mercedes-Benz extensively crash tested prototypes.In 1958, the United Nations established the World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations, an international standards body advancing auto safety. In 1958 Volvo engineer Nils Bohlin invented and patented the modern 3-Point Safety Belt.In 1964 Volvo developed the first rear-facing child seat.In 1984 New York State passed the first law requiring seat belt use in passenger cars. In 1986 Volvo introduced the first central high-mounted stoplight.In 1998 Volvo also developed and was the first to install a head protecting airbag.In 2004 the NTSB released new tests designed to test the rollover risk of new cars and SUVs.

TIME LINE OF CAR SAFETY

•About 40,000 people die every year in the U.S. due to car accidents.•In 1996 the U.S. had about 2 deaths per 10,000 motor vehicles, comparable to 1.9 in Germany, 2.6 in France, and 1.5 in the UK. In 1998 there were 3,421 fatal accidents in the UK, the fewest since 1926.•A much higher number of accidents result in permanent disability.

POINT TO NOTE

Car safety is not an issue which has recently caught the media eye. Ever since the 1930s, Car Manufacturers have been tirelessly working towards it.

SAFETY FEATURESSafety features in cars can broadly be categorized under the following two heads:

Active safety refers to vehicle systems that use information about a vehicle's external environment to change the response of the vehicle and improve the safety of the vehicle in the pre-crash time period or during the crash event, with the ultimate goal of avoiding a crash altogether.

Passive safety refers to built-in features of a vehicle, such as crumple zones, seatbelts, and airbags, that work passively to prevent injury and do not change the vehicle's action in response to crash scenario or severity.

SAFETY RATING SYSTEMSThe Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) crash tests new cars, awards them a comparative star rating and publicises the results to inform consumers of the relative safety performance of new cars on the Australian market. Crash tests simulate two of the most frequently occurring collision types - a frontal offset and a side impact test:1) In the frontal offset test, 40% of the front of the car

on the driver's side strikes a crushable aluminium barrier at 64 km/h.

2) In the side impact test, a 950 kilogram trolley with a crushable aluminium face strikes the driver's side of the car at 50 km/h.

3) In the second side impact test, a ‘pole test' conducted. This test simulates hitting a tree or power pole, side on, at 29km/h. This optional test can earn an additional 2 safety points toward the overall safety rating of the car.

ANCAP scores out of a possible 37 points:The frontal offset and side impact tests can earn up to 16 points each. At least 12.5 points in each of the frontal offset and side impact tests must be achieved to earn a safety rating. The pole test can earn an extra two points. At least one point must be scored in the pole test for the car to earn a 5 star rating. At least 32.5 points must be achieved overall (with at least one point scored from the pole test) to earn a 5 star safety rating.

ACTIVE SAFETY FEATURES

Active safety features include:•Intelligent speed adaptation which physically prevents vehicles from being able to exceed the speed limit through electronic throttle control governed by a GPS matched database of speed limits.•Rear end Collision Warning Lamps senses deceleration of lead vehicle and flashes amber warning strobe rearward to warn following vehicles of a pending braking or stopping event•Variable assist power steering allows assistance to the motorist while parking, but reduces steering effort assistance at motorway speeds•Dynamic steering response (DSR) corrects the rate of power steering system to adapt it to vehicle's speed and road conditions.•Traction control (TCS) actuates brakes or reduces throttle to restore traction if driven wheels begin to spin.•Four wheel drive (AWD). Distributing power to all four wheels lessens the chances of wheel spin. •Reverse backup sensors, which alert drivers to nearby objects in their path, are installed in some high-end vehicles, but may also be purchased separately.•Electronic Stability Control Uses various sensors to intervene when the car senses a possible loss of control. The car's control unit can apply the brakes to prevent the car from under steering or over steering. •Directional headlights, which allow the driver to see obstacles ahead in the roadway while cornering.Low center of gravity and other conventional features promoting good car handling and braking.•Comfortable suspension and seating to avoid accidents from driver fatigue.Large high performance tires, suited to the weather and road conditions, contribute to braking and handling.Visibility for the driver, mirrors, elimination of blind spots and possibly other awareness aids such as radar, etc…•Four wheel steering gives, at the cost of mechanical complexity, quicker, more accurate maneuvers at high speed and/or decreased turning circle at low speed. It may also help stability.•Inboard brakes allow large fade resistant discs or drums, without contributing to unsparing weight and wheel bounce, which degrade braking, handling and ride, and increase mechanical loads.

PASSIVE SAFETY FEATURES

Passive safety features include:•Seatbelts absorb energy and limit forward motion of an occupant, and help keep occupants from being ejected from the vehicle.•Shoulder harnesses add additional protection to seatbelts by restraining the upper body, absorbing energy and preventing injuries from second collisions where the moving occupant hits the stationary dashboard.•Energy absorbing windshields have a deformable polymer layer that allows the windshield to deform on impact absorbing energy and preventing penetration of the head through the windshield.•Airbags: There are many types of airbags, all of which should be considered supplemental restraint systems (SRS), used in addition to belts. •Crumple zone technology absorbs the energy of a collision by displacing the impact of a crash and diverting it from the internal (passenger compartment) critical structure of the vehicle.•Side impact bars for protection against side on collisions•Collapsible steering column, sometimes provided with steel sheet bellows.•Crash compatibility can be improved by matching vehicles by weight and by matching crumple zones with points of structural rigidity, particularly for side-on collisions. •Cage construction is designed to protect vehicle occupants. Some racing vehicles have a tubular roll cageReinforced side door structural members•Door handles secure enough for emergency occupant extrication through a winch.•Fuel pump shutoff devices turn off gas flow in the event of a collision for the purpose of preventing gasoline fires.•Driver State Sensor - The system measures 3D head pose and eyelid motion parameters of the driver.•Padding of the instrument panel and other interior parts of the vehicle likely to be struck by the occupants during a crash. Whilst largely being supplanted by airbags, it still plays an important role in preventing injuries.

ELABORATING SOMESAFETY FEATURES

SEAT BELTA seat belt is a safety harness designed to secure the occupant of a vehicle against harmful movement that may result from a collision or a sudden stop. They are intended to reduce injuries by stopping the wearer from hitting hard interior elements of the vehicle or other passengers and by preventing the passenger from being thrown from the vehicle.

TYPES OF SEAT BELTSLapAdjustable strap that goes over the waist. Used frequently in older cars, now uncommon except in some rear middle seats. Passengers aircraft seats also use lap seat belts. SashAdjustable strap that goes over the shoulder. Used mainly in the 1960s, but of limited benefit because it is very easy to slip out of in a collision.Lap and SashCombination of the two above (two separate belts). Mainly used in the 1960s and 1970s and still today in small aircraft. Generally superseded by three-point design.Three-pointSimilar to the lap and shoulder, but one single continuous length of webbing. Both three-point and lap-and-sash belts help spread out the energy of the moving body in a collision over the chest, pelvis, and shoulders.Five-point harnessesSafer but more restrictive than most other seat belt types. They are typically found in child safety seats and in racing cars. The lap portion is connected to a belt between the legs and there are two shoulder belts, making a total of five points of attachment to the seat. (Strictly speaking, harnesses are never to be fastened to the seat—they should be fastened to the frame/sub-frame of the automobile.)

A three-point seat belt

Five points harness in a racing car

Newborn babies should be put in a car seat until they weigh at least 10 kg. These carriers are designed to be placed in the rear seat and face towards the rear with the baby looking towards the back window. Some of these carriers are "Convertibles" which can also be used forward facing for older children. With infants, these should only be used facing the rear. Harness straps should be at or below shoulder level.A rear-facing infant restraint must never be put in the front seat of a vehicle with a front passenger air bag. A rear-facing infant restraint places an infant's head close to the air bag module, which can cause severe head injuries or death if the air bag deploys.

INFANT CAR-SEATS

Baby Trend LATCH Loc™ KeyFit 30 Infant Car Seat Convertible seats

ToddlersToddlers over 1 year old and between 10 and 20 kg (20 and 40 pounds) should remain in a rear-facing child restraint until they have reached either the maximum allowable weight for the seat, or the tops of the toddler's head is less than 1" away from the top of the hard shell of the seat.

Young childrenChildren who weigh from 40 to 80 pounds (35 kg), are younger than 8, or are shorter than 4 ft 9 in (1.4 m) are advised to use booster seats, which raise them to a level that allows the seat belts to work effectively. These seats are forward facing and must be used with both lap and shoulder belts. Make sure the lap belt fits low and tight across the lap/upper thigh area and the shoulder belt fits snug crossing the chest and shoulder to avoid abdominal injuries.Older childrenChildren who can sit erect with their back flat against the back of a vehicle's rear seat, and whose legs bend comfortably at the knee at the edge of the seat can wear ordinary seatbelts. Be sure the shoulder strap fits snugly across the chest and that the lap belt is placed below the abdomen across the pelvis at the top of the thighs.

BOOSTER SEATS

ADULT SEATS

A Frontal Protection System (FPS) is a device fitted to the front end of a vehicle to protect both pedestrians and cyclists who are involved in the unfortunate event of a front end collision with a vehicle. After public concerns about the safety of Bull-Bars led to governmental pressure on SUV and 4x4 vehicle manufacturers, the Transport Research Laboratory developed a series of tests designed to ensure that minimum safety standards are met on vehicles fitted with them. Various manufacturers have undertaken development using softer, energy absorbing materials.

FRONTAL PROTECTION SYSTEM

An automobile's bumper is the front-most or rear-most part, ostensibly designed to allow the car to sustain an impact without damage to the vehicle's frame or safety systems, but it will not withstand damage to high speed impacts. While bumpers were originally constructed of heavy steel and held clear from the bodywork, they have evolved into light-weight structures of thermo-plastic or painted light metal — leaving them susceptible to damage from even light contact.

BUMPER

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, though they may be found on other parts of the vehicle as well.

Crumple zones work by managing the crash energy so that it is absorbed within the frontal section of the vehicle (energy is transformed by the deformation instead of being directly transmitted through the body of the occupants), while also preventing intrusion into or deformation of the passenger cabin. This acts to ensure that car occupants are better protected against injury. In simplistic terms, this is achieved by controlled weakening of outer parts of the car while strengthening the inner (passenger cabin) part of the body by using more reinforcing beams and increasingly, higher strength steels.A common misconception about crumple zones is that they reduce safety by allowing the vehicle's body to collapse, crushing the occupants. In fact, crumple zones are located in front and behind of the main body of the car, compacting within the space of the engine compartment or boot. The marked improvement over the past two decades in high speed crash test results and real-life accidents also belies any such fears. Modern vehicles using what are commonly termed 'crumple zones' provide, on average, far superior protection for their occupants in severe tests than older models.

CRUMPLE ZONE

Parking sensors are a technology that allows the driver of an automobile, truck, or commercial vehicle to be alerted to nearby objects in their path. Parking sensors are also known as backup sensors, parking sonar or just sonar depending on the automaker. While there are variations in the design and feaTures of these systems, the basic design puts sensors in the vehicle's bumper or on brackets. These sensors send ultrasonic waves at 40,000 times per second that detect obstacles behind the vehicle.

PARKING SENSORS

SIPS, acronym for Side Impact Protection System, is a system of protection against side impacts developed by Volvo. The SIPS system worked by having the driver and passenger seat mounted on transverse steel rails, not bolted to the floor as per the standard configuration. In a side impact these transverse rails allowed the seats to crush a reinforced center console during a side impact. The system is designed to more widely distribute the energy in a side impact across the whole side of the car rather than having the B-pillar absorb it all.

SIDE IMPACT PROTECTION SYSTEM

ROLL-CAGEA roll cage is a specially constructed frame built in or around the cab of a vehicle to protect the occupants from being injured in an accident, particularly in the event of a roll-over. Roll cages are used in nearly all purpose-built racecars, and in most cars modified for racing. Roll cages are built to extend the frame in front of the driver, next to the A-pillar, to provide as much high-speed protection as possible in a coupé.

ACTIVE ROLL OVER PROTECTIONActive Rollover Protection (ARP), is a system that recognizes impending rollover and selectively applies brakes to resist.ARP builds on Electronic Stability Control and its three chassis control systems already on the vehicle - Anti-lock braking system, traction control and yaw control. ARP rapidly applies the brakes with a high burst of pressure to the appropriate wheels to interrupt the rollover before it occurs.

Child safety locks are also built into some cars to prevent children from opening the doors during transit; vehicles have been built with this feature since the early 1980s. The lock is typically engaged via a small switch in the side of the door such that the switch is hidden when the door is closed. While it is locked, the passenger door cannot be opened from the inside. Some vehicles implement window-locking mechanisms as well.

CHILD SAFETY LOCK

BLIS, an acronym for Blind Spot Information System, is a system of protection against collisions in the vehicle blind spot developed by Volvo. This system was first introduced in the S80 sedan. This system gives the driver a visible alert when switching lanes and a vehicle in the rear has enter your blind spot. The car uses two door mounted lens to check the blind spot area for an impending collision.

BLIND SPOT INFORMATION SYSTEM

COLOR OF VEHICLE•A Swedish study found that pink cars are involved in the fewest accidents, with black cars being most often involved in crashes (Land transport NZ 2005).•In Auckland New Zealand, a study found that there was a significantly lower rate of serious injury in silver cars; with higher rates in brown, black, and green cars. (Furness et al, 2003)•The Vehicle Color Study, conducted by Monash University Accident Research Centre (MUARC) and published in 2007, analysed 855,258 accidents occurring between 1987 and 2004. The study analysed risk by light condition. It found that in daylight black cars were 12% more likely than white to be involved in an accident, followed by grey cars at 11%, silver cars at 10%, and red and blue cars at 7%, with no other colors found to be significantly more or less risky than white. At dawn or dusk the risk ratio for black cars jumped to 47% more likely than white, and that for silver cars to 15%. In the hours of darkness only red and silver cars were found to be significantly more risky than white, by 10% and 8% respectively

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