Australian Design Rule (ADR) 29 specifies side door strength requirements of all new cars in Australia from1977 models onwards. It is based on and almost identical with U.S. Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 214. The report first reviews other studies of the effectiveness of side door strength and then a selection of the literature on side impacts to establish important factors. It then describes an analysis of 1977-78 claims to the "no-fault" injury compensation scheme operated by Motor Accidents Board (MAB) in Victoria. This was regarded as a preliminary study of the effect of ADR 29 because of the crudeness or absence of information on important injury-influencing factors in the available data. The study concluded that, from the data analysed, there was no satistically significant evidence that ADR 29 reduces the risk of injury to front occupants seated on the impact side in side impacts.
Type: Research and Analysis Report
Sub Type: Consultant Report
Author(s): M H Cameron
Topics: Vehicle design
Publication Date: 01/01/80