Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
Automotive Safety
Loo kin g Back
7111' firM .~lIsoli'll'-J!OI/J1'rfd fllllOlIIobik, "lIill II)' Kllri BI'JlZ" ill 1885.
as it was meant to, the incompatibility in the design of the NHTSA lltimillislrllfor
Jr<llll 200 I /0 2005,
two cars caused her to die instantly, an unnecessary fatality.
Sarah's death became a motivator for Runge in his new job
as he seeks ways to improve the design o f SUVs and pic kup
trucks to eliminate design incolllp:Hibilities as a cause
for traffic accidents.
The nUlnber of dea ths from roll overs, which are ca used in
part by design fh ws in SUVs, is an increasing concern. In
fact, 59 percent of the over:lll increase in f.1talities of moror-
vehicle occup:l.Ilts OIllC :tlllong passengers in pickups, vans
:tnd SUVs. Other risks for motor vehicle crashes arc driv-
In g while drowsy, especially among college students and th e
elde rly, and excessive speed. Much more attention is now
being paid to the dangers of sleep-dep rived drivers on the
nation's roadways. Two examples are the increased efforts
to educate drivers about th e need to stop and rest, often
through roadside billboards, :tnd the placement of;\vake-
up" bumps :l.long ro:td shoulders to minimize crashes.
h
thrown d ear is better' (not reahzlIlg this could tlll':tll dear
to ete rnity) and fear of being tr3pped by fire (even though
~
being trlppcd by one's injUries was a flr grea ter risk). In
addition, as seat bel t laws were considered, isslles of person:tl
freedolll Inevitably emcred th e debate." Since 1984, however.
all states except New H:HlIpshire have passed such laws.
[n [987, New York State once again led the way in requiring CliCK IT
large school buses to itlstall two-poim seat belts, although
com pliance waS left to 111di vidual school districts. Si nce then,
- 08-
most new scat belt laws in state lcgislarures concern restraint
usc in school buses. In 1998 and 1999 . N H TSA conducted
TICKET
a research projeCl to develop the next generation of occu- am' of sl'l'l'ml
pant protection systc ms for school buses. At preselH. most S('(1/bdl prollwli(1"
sc hool bus scats :J.rc p3dded to reduce cr:J.sh forces lnd do lo.~"s p"/J/islu'd by
not have lap belts, whic h can contribute to head injuries if /111' N H TSA.
a lap bel t restr:tin$ thc pelvis while the head imp:J.cts the seat
in front .
Accord ing to a 2003 N HTSA survey, compliance in we:J.ring
selt belts has reached 79 percelH, thc highest level in the
ll:J.tion's history. In most st:J.tes the laws cover from-seat
occup:ll1ts only, bur the bws in 18 states also cover passen-
gers in rear seats. [n somc J urisdictiollS, however, occup:l.llts
in some vehicle c1assific:J.tions, usually pickups, arc exem pt
from the law. Of the 49 st:J. tes. only 21 allow law enforce-
ment officers to stop drivers for f.1ilun:: to compl y with the
mandatOry seat belt laws; this " prim:J.ry enforccment" h:J.s
been as~oci:J.tcd with greater sC:J.t belt usc. The other st:J.tes
req uire that officers first stOp :J. vchicle for another reason
before citing non co illpliance with the mandatory sC:J.t belt NHTSA-
law. H owever. :tll 50 states lnd the District of Colulllbi:J. have rrroIHIHl'ulil'd
(hild s(1fcl)' SC(/I.
c hild restraint laws. Th ese laws requi re that children travel ill
approved chi ld restrlint devict's, either ca r selts for yOllng
childrcn or booster seats or seat belts for o lder childre n. [f
scat belt usc continues :J.t 79 pe rcent or higher, it is cstilll:J.ted
that :J.t least 15.000 hves will be saved in each future year. C
31
Vignette
Air Bags
Seat bdes by th emsel ves :IfC act ive restraint systems, meaning th at
motor vehicle o ccu pants must consc ioLlsly belt themselves in. fides
therefore can save lives o nl y when drivers and passengers lISC them.
Air bags, on the other hand, are passive restraint systems, requiring
no conscious decision on the part of a motor vehicle occupant.
Assuming universal implementation of effec tive passive restraint sys-
tems, air bags could save even more lives than active restraint syste ms.
The first patent on air bag restraint systems was issued to J ohn W.
Hetric K in 1952, covering designs for s:lfety cushions that would
intlate :lmom:ltica lly when a vehicle slld denly slowed. In 1964, Carl
C. C lark reported on his work at the Martin Company on ex peri-
ments that ve rified various ai r bag restraint designs and described
their advanrages and limitatio ns. Some of the ex perimen ts involved
him as the subject. Using pre-inflated designs, Clark's research was
the fir st to demonstrate the potential benefits of air bag restraints.
It became apparent that air bags infbting instantly with g re.1t force
must vent some aIr co prevent trauma to t he head and upper corso.
Aside from rourine injuries ca used when air bags in fl ated with too
m uch fo rce - llsually minor .1brasiOllS to people's hands, arms and
32
faces - air bags caused fatal head injuries in young children. The force
of the air bag smashing eithe r dIrectly into young children or IIlCO
rear-f:1cing child safety seats, sometimes when vehicles collided at
relatively low speeds, caused these head injuries. The fear of air bags,
plus infoTIll3tiOil abolLt the importance of kecplllg children out of
the froTH seat, has led parents to banish ch ildre n to the rear seats of
cars, vans and SUVs, a step that has helped reduce the number of
child traffi c f:tt:tlities. Automobile manufacture rs also allow the
passenger-side air bag to be disabled for adults and children.
GM tested air bags all the 1973 model Chevrolet sold only for
gavemlllem usc. In 1975 and 1976, GM offered bu yers of ful\-sized
Oldslllobiles :md l3uicks driver-side air bags, and both driver and
passenger-side air bags to buyers of Cadillacs during those same years.
Today, dual front air bags are standard in all automobiles sold in the
United States. In addition, side air bags are options offered by many
manufacturers and are standard in many models. In second-generation
air bags, the force used to inflate th e air bag has been further reduct!d,
an important modification that helps cut down on the number of
injuries to the head and upper tOrso c:msed by air bags during motor
vt!hiclt! crashes. As of late 2003, NHTSA estimates that more than
\3,000 lives have been saved by air bags, mostly drivers but with a
signifi cant number of front-right passengers. a
Looking Ahead
A d van ces in Automobile
Manufac turing
The next fromier in automotive safety is saving bad drivers
from miStakes th:lt cO!Hribme to most crashes. ~ To
prevent drivers from making life-threatening mist;lkes. auto-
To prevent drivers mobile manufacture rs have begull to provide linked ~yste!lls
from making lifc- of safety features that tht'y arc either improving o r (h:signing
threate ning mis- from scr.Hch.
takes, automobile
manufacttl rers T he anti-lock brake ~ystell1 is the foundation of these linh-d
have begun to safety systcms. Anti-lock brakes, controlled by a computer,
provide linked pump themselves automatic:llly to avoid locking the wheels
systems of safety :lnd sending the vchicle into a skid. This same b:lsic hardware
features .... also applies braking force when sensors detect a vehick' skid-
ding sidcw;IYs or roc king violently side to side. When the)' do
so. the anti-lock brakes become an electronic stability control
systel11.
Since every vehicle has a mechanical suspension 'ystelll.
with ~hock absorbers and (p refer:lbly) st:lbi lizer b:lrs that :lfe
designed to control the vehIcle's side-to-side motion, engI-
neers can make these stlspensions smarter using electronics
:111d software. For inst:111ce, one manufacturer Ius devised :I
system oiled Active St:lbilizer lhr in which the electronics
push b:lck against till' forces th at cause the vehicle to sway
from sick to side and go out of control in a violent tl1rn.
Another system tlSes shock absorbers filled with a magm·tic
fluid . Sensors read the road and send an electric current
through the magnetic fluid. and depending on conditions,
the shock absorbers will get either stiffer or softer to h'ep
the car level even on rougb roads.
T hese advances in safety systems. employing software ami
dectronic control technology_ could mean that showrooms
wi ll soon featme ca rs that weave a safety net around drivers.
Tile safety net will integrate skid controls, stability sensors,
steering. brakes and the throttle in :l system that rectifies
driver error :wtolll:ltic:llly the inst:lnt it occurs. The ch:lllenge
for automotive technology mal1l1f,1ctu rers is to persu:lde
car manufacturers to spend the cxtra money to Illake their
:ldvances morc widely available and bring automOtive safe ty
to the ncxt level. The cll:lllenge for C:lr 111:l1ll1facttl rers is
to persuade car buyers that these technologies arc worth
paying for.
Vd"c1" p"h
pn.,,,,,,<"<1 by drlvn
VDlM
Vd"c1~ !"hili,\"
com",1 "nly
,
and spin:l l cord injuries.
,.. Uy f.1r the greatest c h:lllt::nge fOl" public hC:l lth is cx t<.!nd-
illg to developing coutltries the knowledge :lnd technology
By f.1r the that have ell:lbled the United Stat<.!s to bert<.!r protect its ro:ld
greatest challenge use rs. This will r<.!quire sUl"moulHing economic and ndturJ.1
for public health barriers. Susan l3aker of Johns H opkins School of Publi c
is exten ding H e:llth says. " Advances in automotive s:lfety in this country
to developing ca n poim rhe W:ly to illlproved s:lfety in tilt" developi ng
countries the world. Hopefully, those countries and th~t V:lst popubtion
knowledge and will not h:lVC to learn from hard experience. as we did. that
technology that government regubtions, wi sely il\1plenlt~ l1ted, arc the best
h~ve t::1l~bled the
way to protect public he:llth." D
United St~tes to
better protect its
road lIsers.
Ph olo c redils
1'.lgc 21: Fm.1 gJl cJr. O HII'rrll<" Im~~~Work-.
I'J gc 11: Enl)' en aai(kllt. " H"lwu- lkul'ch ColkclI,,"/(:(m.1l1~.
1'.lg'· 12: llr.JctTrc y R""gc. ,ourlc'\" www.llu,klcUpAmcrlca."'g.
Pag,· 2.3: lI'c:\lh lI13I)·zc·r. (OU'I,·,\" US NJval Saft'l\" Cc·mcr.
I'.tlle H:Tcc"~ drn,k"'ll ""d d';""'g. 0 Roy MorSt"h/CORUIS.
I'Jg" 25: eu ""''''''!! ",<I hlll". III,,,,,,,,n' 1"'IUIl(C
filr I-bghway S.f,·(y.
I'Jg'· 2(" Auto a~sh I'·SI . .::> AMS ~nd rI"I<' .11"1,,, will S,,,"I.
1'.lg" 211: WOO""'' .,](Is,·ol bdl. j""\ Ikl!lnJnIl /COllm~.
I'.tll'· 211: Nils Bohlin. ~' Voko Car Co'po,:",,,,,.
Pallc' 30: Click- II or TICkel. c,,"ncIY www.lluckkUpAulC"ro<"J.oTg.
I'age 30:Th'''c-I'''"H 5c·.1I hell. C www.autoli".~o",.
I'Jgc 31: Allt-n K. Brc·,·d. 0 21M):; I lib, y M,tchell.
I'.tllc 3-1:VJ)IM. o To)"o!' MOlor S,lc·l. USA.
1'.l!",' 3-1: SUV ronowr. Kenh Elh, / F,,'" Photoll"'phc·r. www.W:.V FIl ...Il.