Crash Safety

INTRODUCTION

In present day. Automobile have become integral part of

life. Due to Increase in the population of motor vehicle accidents occurs. Motor
vehicle accidents are causing great concern all over the World. It is said that
more people die due to vehicle accidents than on the battlefield ! This may seem
ironic but a fact is fact. In India, the number of motor vehicle mishaps are rising
at an alarming rate. Many instances of injury & death are attributed to the lack of
proper driving knowledge, absence of safety measures, lack of immediate
medical relief & most importantly, to the vehicle itself, vehicle safety features &
the over all design of the vehicle are two important areas where protection to the
occupants can be extended.
Crash prevention is best but we cant achieve 100% crash
prevention that's why accidents occurs. So, a need is there to think about after
crash, safety.
A collision imparts tremendous energy to the occupants as
well as to the vehicle itself. If parts of the body is crushable, it absorbs energy by
increasing the time the vehicles take to come to a complete stop. If the occupants
have their seat belts buckled they will stow down with the vehicle, so that effect
of secondary impact is greatly reduced . Without seat belts, the chance of
secondary impact injury multiplies. Nevertheless, absorbing collision energy is
very important in protecting the occupants of a vehicle in a collision.

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TYPES OF IMPACT

If a vehicle runs head on into a concrete wall at 50 kmph, it

suddenly decelerates to zero. During instant all the energy accumulated must be
discharged. Thus the more energy absorbed by the body, the less deceleration
shock affecting the occupants. For example, if the vehicle's front end is
completely rigid and non crushable, the shock of going from 50 kmph to zero
would affect the entire cabin. To the occupants, it would be like being dropped
from a five- storey building.
But, if the front of the vehicle crumples absorbing energy,
the cabin and its occupants decelerate more slowly (approximately O.I second).
The front of behind passenger cabin help minimize collision effect on the cabin.
These crushable zones absorb crash energy, slowing decelerating and reducing
the impact on seat belted occupants.

PRIMARY IMPACT :
Primary impact is generated by the collision itself. In the
front end, the crushable zones energy absorbing character is achieved by putting
dimples called "crush beeds" along the front side members and the apron
members. These crush beds are strategically placed and their size is carefully
calculated to increase resistance so that crash energy is absorbed as the members
crumple.

SECONOARY IMPACT :

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Not all of the crushable items are in the front and rear ends
of the vehicle. Some are inside. A very important energy-absorbing system inside
the car is the steering
wheel and column. With careful design, the steering system can help keep the
driver away from injury . These system is called "collapsible steering". There are
at least three kinds of collapsible steering system: bending bracket type ball-type
energy absorbing column and self-aligning steering wheel. Most of Toyota's
collapsible steering system use a bending bracket to absorb energy. The impact of
a collision causes the bracket supporting the main steering shaft to bend down,
allowing the steering wheel and upper steering mechanism to move some
distance towards the dash panel.

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THE PROTECTIVE CABIN AND DOOR

Toyota uses high tensile steel to form the bodies of its

vehicles for the highest strength-to-weight ratio. Further, reinforcements are
added to areas most likely to buckle under impact; the joints where windshields
and rare window posts attach to the body, the roof joints, the center posts joints
and all floor joints. The floors are reinforced with undereinforcements that run
the length of the cabin on both sides, directly beneath the occupants.
Doors get reinforced, too especially around hinghes and
latches. In addition, side-door beams have been placed in the doors of all full
model changes since 1991. And the doors are designed so that collision impact is
unlikely to cause them to jam. After a collision , it is important for the occupants
to be able to leave the cabin quickly and easily.
Since the 1980 high -tensile steel has been used to reduce
weight and provide better energy-absorbing properties. Cabin are reinforced with
high-tensile steel in many places. In addition, Toyota's super-computer backed
CAE system has played a significant role in creating stronger, more rigid, yet
lighter vehicle bodies.

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PROTECTION BY THE AIRBAGS

In very severs accidents, car occupants can get impacted

with the car interior even if they are protected by the seat belt system. The driver
is flung against the steering wheel and the passenger in the front seat hits the
dash-board or A-pillar. Such impacts can cause facial and head injuries. By
introducing an airbag between the occupant and his surroundings, direct impact
can be avoided. The large area and the low gas pressure of the airbag result in
low impact forces between the occupant and the bag itself.
By avoiding greater head rotation, the forces acting on the
neck are reduced significantly. Furthermore, by pressing the gas out of the bag,
energy absorption by the occupants takes place which lowers the forces of the
belt system acting on the chest.
Now, let us discuss airbags in detail since they have become
a prominent safety measure in passenger cars. Generally, an airbag is often
overestimated in terms of what it can and cannot, do. An airbag does not provide
invincibility. As a conventional belt restraint, the airbag has its own limitation.
Airbags are a supplement to safety belt protection, and that's why they are
usually referred to as" supplemental inflatable restraint" (SIR) systems.

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The key components of the system are :-

* An airbag - full size, 65titer, 700mm diameter,
* The airbag cover.
* An inflator,
* The sreering wheel.
* The clock spring coil, and
* The crash sensor.
The airbag is triggered by a computer operated crash sensor,
which monitors the body for impacts. The sensor distinguish between a minor
parking collision, a side collision, a clumsy mechanic with a hammer, and serious
frontal collision that can cause injury to the driver. It must make this decision in
15 milli seconds. Once the decision is made, inflation of the airbag takes 30 milli
seconds. By the time one blinks, the airbag is already deflated.
The sensor registers the acceleration-time history of an
accident. The diagnostic or control unit not only keeps a check on the entire
airbag system during operation of the car but also triggers it, if necessary. The
triggering signal is transferred to the air modules by the signal transmission unit
like a slipring or contact coil. For the driver side, the airbag module is mounted
on steering wheel; a wiring harness for the passenger-side system. The airbag
modules for driver and passenger. consist of gas generators, bags , mounting
plates and cover.

CONTROL UNITS :
Control units are the main elements of an airbag system with
central or crash sensor. The sensor must detect the driving situation and give the
information or the signal to activate the airbags. Depending on system

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configurations, electromechanical system are used for external sensor and

electronic system for central sensor. Among the number of sensor available,
electronic sensor are employed on a large scale. These sensor are mounted in the
center of the car. They provide an electrical signal which is in fixed relation to
the acceleration of the car. The same is fed to a computer that uses a
mathematical algorithm to decide whether or not to activate the airbag. The
future trend is toward the adoption of central electronic sensor system because of
less wiring, less number parts, low installation cost and less weight. Additionally,
with new algorithms, it is possible to detect low speed angled or offset crash
situations.

DIAGNOSTIC UNITS
Diagnostic units are used in system which have external
crash sensor. Their main task is to check the entire airbag system during car
operation. If failures are indicated, the unit warns the driver that it needs
servicing. The diagnostic unit often has a memory to store some data about the
functioning of the airbag system during a crash. Most system have a constancy
and a energy reserve device to make sure that the system will work even if the
battery or some wiring are destroyed during an accident.

GAS GENCRATORS :
Gas generators have the task to produce gas to fill the
airbags in sufficient time to protect the occupants. In a frontal crash at about 50
kph, the bag filling time has to be 30 milli seconds. At present only pyrotechnic
gas generators are able to produce such an amount of gas in such a short time.
The bag's for passive systems on the driver side have
volumes of between 60 liters to 80 liters. The gas is produced by burning a

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pyrotechnical propellant. The propellant normally consists of sodium acid. The

pyrotechnical material is ignited by being activated either by an electric current
or in a mechanical way. The gas generators are totally. sealed so that no humidity
can reach the propellant during a normal life cycle. To avoid vibration problems
in the steering column, the mass of the driver inflators are made of aluminum.
For the passenger side, the airbag systems range between
100 liters to 200 liters. Due to the greater distance between the passenger and the
dashboard, the airbag on the passenger side has greater volume than the driver
bag . To produce gas, one can used either two driver side inflator. In principle ,
the tube inflator consist of the same propellent initiator and filtering system
similar to the driver airbag system.

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FUTURE TRENDS

Toyota engineers are faced with making all vehicles as

safe humanly possible .On the other hand, vehicle weight will become even more
important in the future as lighter vehicles, use less resources and less fuel. And.
As new materials emerge and computer-aided engineering techniques and
technology advance, lighter vehicle with maximum safety will surely come.
Airbag systems are found today in many cars in the upper
price category. The number of cars equipped with air bags is steadily growing
and, therefore, the prices will decrease so that the cars in the lower price category
will be equipped with airbags in the near future, too.
With the adoption of Eurobags further protection to the
occupants can be provided. It works well in conjunction with three point-seatbelt
system. In this system, the lower body of the car occupant is well-protected by
the seatbelt and the airbag takes care of the head. In principle , Eurobags use low
volume inflators which absorb the entire energy of the occupants upper body.

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The possible changes and development in the airbag are :

1). Rear/side fitment greater use of front airbags for both the driver and the
passenger raises the question of their fitment in the rear/side of the car.
2. Compressed air instead of chemical gas generation. The use of compressed
air would reduce airbag costs and lessen the build-up of fumes.
3. Decrease in the thickness of airbag materials to allow for better storage.

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CONCLUSION

After having a look of all crash safety measures, we can

conclude that use of the various crash safety measures will certainly reduce the
severity of the after crash injuries and save the human life.
Considering this fact many leading automobile companies
like Toyato, Opel and Ford etc. are implementing these crash safety techniques in
their forthcoming models.

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REFERENCES

1) INDIAN AUTO -- OCT. 1995

2) INDIAN AUTO --NOV. 1996

3) DISCOVERY CHANNEL
-- EXTREME MACHINE
( 9TH JULY 2000)
-- BEYOND 2000
( 13TH AUG. 2000)

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