AN INVESTIGATION, VIA SIMULATION, OF VEHICLE CHARACTERISTICS THAT CONTRIBUTE TO STEERING MANEUVER INDUCED ROLLOVER. IN: OCCUPANT AND VEHICLE RESPONSES IN ROLLOVERS

In this chapter, from a comprehensive text about occupant and vehicle responses in rollovers, the authors report on research undertaken to find vehicle characteristics which may contribute to steering maneuver induced rollover accidents. The research used the Vehicle Dynamics Analysis, Non-Linear (VDANL) computer simulation on 28 different steering induced maneuvers for each of 51 vehicles; a total of 292 directional response metrics were computed for each vehicle. Results showed that the vehicle directional response metrics were not good predictors of the observed rollovers per single vehicle accident rate for each make/model of vehicle. Instead, two of the significant variables describe the accident location (whether or not the accident occurred in a rural area and whether or not the accident occurred on a curved section of roadway). The other four significant variables were not obtained from directional response simulation runs. They were: tilt table ratio, the number of single vehicle accidents per thousand registered vehicles, whether or not the vehicles had front wheel drive, and whether or not the vehicle was a sport utility vehicle. The authors conclude that none of the directional response metrics, alone, are good predictors of rollover propensities.