European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - October 16, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse Fac ult of i Krofl making can safer for pedestrians Czwak jew Between can and Pudei trims a also being Arul i and. Below in tepid inf t impacts on pedestrian n to Diw Ewt a pads we . Such Dola May Toad 10 Tiang in car own cart and Hood Toul aim reduce harm to pedestrian. Anatomy of an Accident Tipett frit Natiw data on ugh leeway Ine final Post uni of the Ewe invoke. Wiatr weight Ihk no 11 and damage to both rail and passe Noora. Using this inf Mawin new comp Lief program can help deduce from How deeply a ear it crushed of its Speed torn he length of itt Ihrl Martin. Tin results can to Ali played t alow motion replay of How the Accident occurred. Such in increasingly being used at Ewt Enco in Law Wrt and to improve Auto tatty and set regulations. Auto wrecks yield to cd put by William j. Broad new York times a applying new computer programs an Long known Laws of physics scientists have become increasingly adept Al re creating and analysing car crashes providing powerful tool Tor improving automotive safety and resolving Legal disputes. The reconstruction technique produces detailed slow motion replays of the text singly Complex and rapid events that occur when automobiles slam into one another or into pedestrians the automotive Industry is using the approach to help design cars that Are lets Likely to injure passengers and pedestrians while ederal officials use it to improve Auto safety standards. By helping establish the Ollen disputed facts of accidents the technique has also come into wide use in lawsuits and insurance cases in the United states. After a major Accident today any of a variety of crash investigators including state police officers University experts automobile company officials and insurance consultants May enter data gathered Al the scene like the length of skid Marks and the size and location of dents into their computers. Using powerful new programs the computers recreate the Accident showing who hit whom at what Speed and just How the cars and passengers were affected in the moment of the crash. Older methods of crash analysis often focus on staged experiments with dummies in which actions and circumstances lend to be highly artificial. For instance a lest car holding a Dummy will often be directed to plow into a stationary object Liko a Concrete Wall. By definition the science of Accident reconstruction deals with real world events that usually Are far More Complex like when two speeding cars slam into each other alter they have careened off other objects and rolled Over several times. The advantage is a huge increase in the accuracy of Accident data and a corresponding Rise in the potential for better cars. The reconstruction of what happened alter the fact has a lot to do with improving Auto safety said Charles a. Modal an Engineer at Indiana University who studies car crashes. After All we can t do experiments on living people so what happens out in the Field is very Bob Rosenfeldt head of occupant Protection and Impact dynamics Al the Ford motor co. Said of the evolving science of crash reconstruction a allows you to hone in on solutions much More quickly than in the Olden although pioneered in the 1960s and 1970s, crash reconstruction has come into its own this decade with Auto makers increasingly relying on it to guide improvements in car design. For instance. Ford is using such data to Aid the design of electronic sensors that trigger inflation of protective air bags including lha Selling of Impact Levels that will deploy Tho bags. More generally crash reconstruction has been used to Analyse How the car body crumples in an Accident and just How passengers Are injured by such parts As the steering column. One area of current research is what happens to passengers when cars Are struck in the Sida which account or about 30 percent of All accidents. The studies suggest thai Side beams usually installed in car doors do not Signil cantly reduce Impact forces on passengers according to the motor vehicle manufacturers association in Detroit. Crash reconstruction clearly makes Lor More sensible and defensible decisions on safety matters said Thomas j. Carr director of safely Al the manufacturers association. Page 16 the stars and stripes sunday october 16,1988
