Vehicle rollovers continue to be one of the most hazardous and costliest types of crashes among both military and civilian vehicles in the U.S. While rollover crashes only constitute 2.2% of civilian crashes, they make up 33% of the total cost of civilian crashes. An analysis of military mishap data showed that rollovers occur less frequently than frontal and rear impacts, but have the highest rate of injury and fatality. However, there are currently no military safety standards, and only the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration static roof crush, and interior padding requirements standards to regulate rollovers. The goal of this proposed SBIR effort is the development of a suite of new, proven, rollover-specific safety tests. These tests will have the greatest potential for understanding the kinematics, and reducing the hazards, of the rollover crash situations. The research will be conducted by gathering and analyzing existing literature, tests, and tools, and will ultimately lead to improved safety in vehicle during rollovers.
Keywords: Human Injury Mechanism, Injury Tolerance, Rollover Crashes, Vehicle Crashworthiness, Virtual Testing
