Consumer experiences with crash avoidance feature repairs.

Introduction: Popularity of crash avoidance features is growing, but so too is confusion around how to repair them, how much repairs should cost, and who should pay for those repairs. This study's purpose was to capture how these issues are affecting consumers.

Method: A total of 496 vehicle owners in the United States were surveyed online and by phone about their experiences repairing front crash prevention (n = 359), blind spot detection (n = 317), and/or driver assistance cameras (n = 348) equipped on their personal vehicles.

Prevalence of distracted driving by driver characteristics in the United States.

Introduction: Distracted driving is a long-standing traffic safety concern, though common secondary tasks continually evolve. The goal of this study was to measure the prevalence of self-reported distracted driving behaviors, including activities made possible in recent years by smartphones.

Methods: We conducted a nationwide survey of 2,013 U.

What humanlike errors do autonomous vehicles need to avoid to maximize safety?

Introduction: The final failure in the causal chain of events in 94% of crashes is driver error. It is assumed most crashes will be prevented by autonomous vehicles (AVs), but AVs will still crash if they make the same mistakes as humans. By identifying the distribution of crashes among various contributing factors, this study provides guidance on the roles AVs must perform and errors they must avoid to realize their safety potential.

Laboratory Reconstructions of Bicycle Helmet Damage: Investigation of Cyclist Head Impacts Using Oblique Impacts and Computed Tomography.

Although head injuries are common in cycling, exact conditions associated with cyclist head impacts are difficult to determine. Previous studies have attempted to reverse engineer cyclist head impacts by reconstructing bicycle helmet residual damage, but they have been limited by simplified damage assessment and testing. The present study seeks to enhance knowledge of cyclist head impact conditions by reconstructing helmet damage using advanced impact testing and damage quantification techniques.

Not all protected bike lanes are the same: Infrastructure and risk of cyclist collisions and falls leading to emergency department visits in three U.S. cities.

Objective: Protected bike lanes separated from the roadway by physical barriers are relatively new in the United States. This study examined the risk of collisions or falls leading to emergency department visits associated with bicycle facilities (e.g.

Characteristics of rear-end crashes involving passenger vehicles with automatic emergency braking.

Automatic emergency braking (AEB) is a proven effective countermeasure for preventing front-to-rear crashes, but it has not yet fully lived up to its estimated potential. This study identified the types of rear-end crashes in which striking vehicles with AEB are overrepresented to determine whether the system is more effective in some situations than in others, so that additional opportunities for increasing AEB effectiveness might be explored. Rear-end crash involvements were extracted from 23 U.

Development of the STAR Evaluation System for Assessing Bicycle Helmet Protective Performance.

Cycling is a leading cause of mild traumatic brain injury in the US. While bicycle helmets help protect cyclists who crash, limited biomechanical data exist differentiating helmet protective capabilities. This paper describes the development of a bicycle helmet evaluation scheme based in real-world cyclist accidents and brain injury mechanisms.

Differences in the protective capabilities of bicycle helmets in real-world and standard-specified impact scenarios.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate relative differences in impact attenuation capabilities of bicycle helmets under real-world impact conditions and safety standard-specified conditions using a standard rig.

Methods: A Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) test rig was used to impact 10 helmet models of varied design. Impact configurations included 2 locations and 2 velocities.

Prevalence of driver physical factors leading to unintentional lane departure crashes.

Objective: Some lane-keeping assist systems in development and production provide autonomous braking and steering to correct unintentional lane drift but otherwise require drivers to fully control their vehicles. The goal of this study was to quantify the proportion of drivers involved in unintentional lane drift crashes who would be unable to regain control of their vehicles to inform the design of such systems.

Methods: The NHTSA's National Motor Vehicle Crash Causation Survey collected in-depth, on-scene data for a nationally representative sample of 5,470 U.

IIHS head restraint ratings and insurance injury claim rates.

Objectives: The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) rates front seat/head restraint designs using a combination of static and dynamic measurements following RCAR-IIWPG procedures. The purpose of this study was to determine whether vehicles with better IIHS-rated seats/head restraints had lower injury risk in rear-end collisions and how the effect of better rated seats interacted with driver gender and age.

Methods: The presence of an associated insurance injury claim was determined for rear-impact crashes using 2001-2014 model year cars and SUVs.

Structural Design Strategies for Improved Small Overlap Crashworthiness Performance.

In 2012, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) began a 64 km/h small overlap frontal crash test consumer information test program. Thirteen automakers already have redesigned models to improve test performance. One or more distinct strategies are evident in these redesigns: reinforcement of the occupant compartment, use of energy-absorbing fender structures, and the addition of engagement structures to induce vehicle lateral translation.

Development of a frontal small overlap crashworthiness evaluation test.

Objectives: Small overlap frontal crashes are those in which crash forces are applied outboard of the vehicle's longitudinal frame rails. In-depth analyses of crashes indicate that such crashes account for a significant proportion of frontal crashes with seriously injured occupants. The objective of this research was to evaluate possible barrier crash tests that could be used to evaluate the crashworthiness of vehicles across a spectrum of small overlap crash types.

Volvo and Infiniti drivers' experiences with select crash avoidance technologies.

Objectives: Vehicle-based crash avoidance systems can potentially reduce crashes, but success depends on driver acceptance and understanding. This study gauged driver use, experience, and acceptance among early adopters of select technologies.

Methods: Telephone interviews were conducted in early 2009 with 380 owners of Volvo vehicles equipped with forward collision warning with autobrake, lane departure warning, side-view assist, and/or active bi-xenon headlights and 485 owners of Infiniti vehicles with lane departure warning/prevention.

Front air bag nondeployments in frontal crashes fatal to drivers or right-front passengers.

Objective: Public concern has arisen about the reliability of front air bags because Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) data indicate many nondeployed air bags in fatal frontal crashes. However, the accuracy of air bag deployment, the variable in question, is uncertain. This study aimed to provide more certain estimates of nondeployment incidence in fatal frontal crashes.

Preventing minor neck injuries in rear crashes--forty years of progress.

Objective: This article offers a historical review of vehicle design measures that have been implemented to reduce the risk of neck injuries to the occupants of rear struck vehicles.

Methods: The literature on regulations, consumer information programs, and efforts by vehicle manufacturers to address whiplash injuries is summarized along with studies evaluating the efficacy of the resulting vehicle design changes.

Results: Vehicle designs and, in particular, the designs of seats and head restraints have changed considerably over the last 40 years.

Roof strength and injury risk in rollover crashes.

Objective: Previous studies have reported that roof strength as measured in FMVSS 216 is unrelated to occupant injury risk in actual rollovers. However, those studies did not control for important confounding factors. The present study reevaluated roof strength and injury risk using a single class of vehicles with similar driver and vehicle usage characteristics in the expectation that some potential confounders will be controlled by this focused analysis.

Relationship of dynamic seat ratings to real-world neck injury rates.

Objectives: The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety assigns consumer safety ratings to passenger vehicle seats based on laboratory sled tests that simulate rear-end collisions. The purpose of this research was to determine how well these ratings correlate to driver neck injury risk in real-world crashes.

Methods: Insurance claims for cars and SUVs struck in the rear by the front of another passenger vehicle were examined for evidence of driver neck injury.