RESEARCH & EVALUATION

Vehicle Safety Research

Vehicle Safety

Resources
Reports Library (rosap)

The Office of Vehicle Safety Research and supports U.S. DOT’s and NHTSA’s safety goals by conducting research and safety testing of motor vehicles and motor vehicle equipment. 

NHTSA’s recently published vehicle safety reports are listed chronologically below.



139 Results
Title
 

Detection Response Task Evaluation for Driver Distraction Measurement for Auditory-Vocal Tasks: Experiment 2

This report supports development of driver distraction guidelines for auditory-vocal tasks. It describes driver distraction-related research performed to develop a method for measurement of the attentional demands of performing in-vehicle tasks using voice commands. An ISO standardized method called Detection Response Task (DRT) was evaluated for this purpose through an experiment conducted in a driving simulator in which participants performed voice-based in-vehicle tasks and a memory task while driving. Results showed that a DRT task implemented using a remote LED superimposed on the driving scene provided good results and a suitable task level associated with “too much” attentional demand was identified.

 DOT HS 812 800

Review of Simulation Frameworks and Standards Related to Driving Scenarios

This reviews simulation frameworks and standards for sharing scenarios and testing methods that could be used for safely evaluating SAE Level 4 and 5 automated driving system (ADS). A simulation framework or standard should describe the object level scenario data (the positions, orientations, and velocities of all the objects in the scene) along with roadway information so that the ADS can be tested in simulation. This open framework would serve as an interface for reading and writing scenario data, allowing for development of a sharable scenario database. Such a database could aid companies, researchers, and developers in the development of ADS and in safely evaluating system performance in simulation.

 DOT HS 812 815

Lower Beam Headlighting System Visibility Confirmation Test – Test Procedure Assessment

This report summarizes assessment of a draft test procedure for confirming visibility performance of lower beam headlighting systems, determined by activating the lower beam headlamps on a production vehicle and measuring the amount of light cast onto the forward roadway over an array of specified locations. Performance levels are then calculated based on measured values for the specified locations. Three vehicles were subjected to three sets of the test. Results showed measured values for visibility and glare measurement locations to be consistent across the three test repetitions. Overall, the test procedure was effective in characterizing lower beam performance levels and provided valuable information on headlamp illuminance consistency and indicated good test repeatability.
 

 DOT HS 812 701

Functional Safety Assessment of a Generic Accelerator Control System with Electronic Throttle Control in Hybrid Electric Vehicles with Gasoline Internal Combustion Engines

This report, one of a series of five similar reports, describes research assessing functional safety of accelerator control systems with electronic faults, such as errant electronic throttle control signals, following an industry process standard focusing specifically on errant signals in hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) that combine an electric powertrain subsystem with a gasoline internal combustion engine. Three common HEV architectures are considered (series HEV, parallel HEV, and series-parallel HEV). This study follows the concept phase process in the ISO 26262 standard and applies a hazard and operability study, functional failure mode and effects analysis, and systems theoretic process analysis methods. In total, this study derives 8 vehicle-level safety goals and 260 safety requirements (an output of the ISO 26262 and STPA processes). This study uses the results of the analysis to identify potential opportunities to improve the risk assessment approach in the ISO 26262 standard. More than 1,500 pages of appendices are included.

 DOT HS 812 657

In-Vehicle Voice Control Interface Evaluation: Preliminary Driver Workload and Risk Analysis

This project evaluated distraction and relative risk associated with using voice control systems (VCS) while driving. It explores potential empirical measures and uses a modeling approach for evaluating risk with these voice-based systems via three studies: Study 1 and Study 2 assess potential measures of the workload and demands on the driver imposed by voice-based and hybrid (audio plus visual) tasks. Participants interacted with a “Wizard of Oz” VCS while driving and a novel radio tuning benchmark task was used. Study 2 included on-road data collection and data collection with a driving simulator. Risk estimates and crash severity estimates developed using this technique varied considerably by VCS task and by driver.

 DOT HS 812 813

Biomechanical Response Manual: THOR 5th Percentile Female NHTSA Advanced Frontal Dummy, Revision 2

The THOR-05F (Test device for Human Occupant Restraint fifth percentile female) anthropomorphic crash test dummy is being designed to provide improved biofidelity compared to the Hybrid III Fifth Female, particularly in evaluating head and neck injuries due to air bag deployment and interaction with restraints (e.g., abdominal response in submarining) along with an improved pelvis, knee-thigh-hip, and lower leg. This manual describes the anthropometry and biomechanical response targets recommended to assess the THOR-05F. The tests and procedures described here were derived primarily for use by dummy manufacturers during the pre-production design and development process. They are designed to produce results in the form of time-history signals so objective quantitative scoring can be performed.

 DOT HS 812 811

Battery State of Health and Stability Diagnostic Tool Set Development

Traditional monitoring of electrochemical cells and batteries has been limited to voltage and temperature, but there are limits to how predictive voltage and temperature can be prior to thermal runaway events, which are often lagging indicators of battery failure. This work examines rapid electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) as a tool to determine cell or battery stability; to provide deeper understanding of how abused cells and batteries fail; and the technical basis of a tool that could be used to interrogate and even monitor cells for early signs of damage or failure. Idaho National Laboratories has developed a fast-impedance tool that uses off-the-shelf parts. This work evaluated that rapid impedance tool, including replicating the work performed with the traditional tool as well as collecting impedance data during dynamic conditions.

 DOT HS 812 810

Development of Oblique Restraint Countermeasures

This study developed and demonstrated modified restraint systems for front seat occupants that can help provide reduced injury. The tests used the 50th percentile male Test device for Human Occupant Restraint (THOR) in both left and right oblique frontal crashes. Four baseline sled tests (driver near-side, driver far-side, passenger near-side, and passenger far-side) set up the baseline restraint performance. Then a set of baseline MAthematical DYnamic MOdels (MADYMO) were developed and validated against the baseline sled tests as well as Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) No. 208 and the United States New Car Assessment Program (US-NCAP) frontal barrier tests. Nearly 100 sled tests and hundreds of MADYMO simulations systematically selected and tuned proposed restraint designs in four oblique crash conditions. Two modified restraint systems, a 3-point belt and relocated retractor, and a suspender 4-point belt, were used in the final sled tests. Results demonstrated that modified restraint systems can be tuned to help reduce the injury in oblique frontal crashes.

 DOT HS 812 814

System-Level RESS Safety and Protection Test Procedure Development, Validation, and Assessment–Final Report

The technical report, “System Level RESS Safety and Protection Test Procedure Development, Validation, and Assessment” was prepared for NHTSA by Argonne National Laboratory via Interagency Agreement DTNH22-15-X-00513. The project originally initiated in August 2015 with a cost of $550,000. The draft report was received by NHTSA in December of 2017 and circulated for agency comments. These comments were assessed, and appropriate revisions were included in this final report.

 DOT HS 812 782

DC and AC Charging Safety Evaluation Procedure Development, Validation, and Assessment

Charging plug-in electric vehicles exposes new hazards and risks different from internal combustion engine vehicles. These must be defined and mitigated through proper design and verified via functional system performance testing. Unlike AC charging, where on-board charger and battery are controlled by the vehicle, DC charging uses an external charger and requires the vehicle, high-voltage system controls, and battery management systems to interact with an external device directly connected to the vehicle’s high-voltage battery. This report focuses on system-level safety procedures to test if a vehicle/charging system can safely handle failure modes and hazards associated with charging. This project developed a DC fast-charging safety test procedure, a holistic collection of tests based on 24 FMEAs conducted by the battery system developer for real-world applications and clients reflecting a broad range of in-field scenarios. This report presents validation and refinement of the test procedures used by SAE and addresses a range of vehicle charging technologies to include AC charging technology presently available for electric vehicles. This report documents these efforts to independently evaluate, refine, and validate test procedures that can be applied to vehicles, charger technologies, and battery configurations.

 DOT HS 812 778