Online: Learn About Crash Prevention at Insurance Institute Site

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) is a nonprofit research and communications organization funded by auto insurers. Its purpose is to ascertain what works and doesn't work to prevent motor vehicle crashes and to reduce injuries in the crashes that occur. The Institute's Web site (www.iihs.org) is a resource for practitioners who need information on vehicle safety. IIHS research focuses on countermeasures aimed at all three factors in motor vehicle crashes (human, vehicular, and environmental) and on interventions that can occur before, during, and after crashes to reduce losses.

The Vehicle Research Center (VRC), which is the focus of all of the Institute's vehicle-related research, opened in 1992. VRC activities include vehicle and component testing, including fully instrumented crash tests, plus in-depth study of serious, on-the-road crashes. Scrutinizing the outcomes of both controlled tests and real collisions gives researchers ' and ultimately the public ' a better idea of how and why occupants get injured in crashes. This research leads to vehicle designs that reduce injuries. The Institute's affiliate organization, the Highway Loss Data Institute, gathers, processes, and publishes data on the ways in which insurance losses vary among different kinds of vehicles.

The site describes the testing carried out by the VRC. In the Crash Hall, the vehicles are slowly accelerated to impact speed on one or two of three runways in the VRC's 21,600 square-foot crash hall. The system that propels the vehicles can accelerate full-size pickup trucks to speeds up to 50 mph on the two 600-foot runways or up to 25 mph on a 200-foot runway perpendicular to the longer ones. The VRC has a fully equipped dummy calibration laboratory with a range of dummy sizes and configurations. Different dummies are used in different kinds of crash tests.

Crashworthiness Evaluations Testing and other research began at the VRC in late 1992. Now, a range of studies is underway. Among the most important of these is an ongoing series of frontal offset crash tests at 40 mph. Such tests provide the basis of the Institute's crashworthiness evaluations, which assess and compare how well passenger vehicles protect their occupants in crashes.

If you click on “Vehicle Ratings,” you can check on the safety rating of any car, either by vehicle category, eg, large luxury, SUV, or the type of test. In addition, the VRC offers head restraint ratings, which are based on measurements of geometry (height and backset) for passenger cars, SUVs, and pickups. They are done by the manufacturers and offer a link to the criteria used.

The site gives an interesting history of highway safety, including the development of seat belts, and describes the three distinct areas that the Institute's research covers: human factors research, vehicle factors research and research aimed at the physical environment.

The Institute asserts that these and other programs help reduce deaths, injuries, and property damage from motor vehicle crashes. Reducing such losses is why the Institute exists.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) is a nonprofit research and communications organization funded by auto insurers. Its purpose is to ascertain what works and doesn't work to prevent motor vehicle crashes and to reduce injuries in the crashes that occur. The Institute's Web site (www.iihs.org) is a resource for practitioners who need information on vehicle safety. IIHS research focuses on countermeasures aimed at all three factors in motor vehicle crashes (human, vehicular, and environmental) and on interventions that can occur before, during, and after crashes to reduce losses.

The Vehicle Research Center (VRC), which is the focus of all of the Institute's vehicle-related research, opened in 1992. VRC activities include vehicle and component testing, including fully instrumented crash tests, plus in-depth study of serious, on-the-road crashes. Scrutinizing the outcomes of both controlled tests and real collisions gives researchers ' and ultimately the public ' a better idea of how and why occupants get injured in crashes. This research leads to vehicle designs that reduce injuries. The Institute's affiliate organization, the Highway Loss Data Institute, gathers, processes, and publishes data on the ways in which insurance losses vary among different kinds of vehicles.

The site describes the testing carried out by the VRC. In the Crash Hall, the vehicles are slowly accelerated to impact speed on one or two of three runways in the VRC's 21,600 square-foot crash hall. The system that propels the vehicles can accelerate full-size pickup trucks to speeds up to 50 mph on the two 600-foot runways or up to 25 mph on a 200-foot runway perpendicular to the longer ones. The VRC has a fully equipped dummy calibration laboratory with a range of dummy sizes and configurations. Different dummies are used in different kinds of crash tests.

Crashworthiness Evaluations Testing and other research began at the VRC in late 1992. Now, a range of studies is underway. Among the most important of these is an ongoing series of frontal offset crash tests at 40 mph. Such tests provide the basis of the Institute's crashworthiness evaluations, which assess and compare how well passenger vehicles protect their occupants in crashes.

If you click on “Vehicle Ratings,” you can check on the safety rating of any car, either by vehicle category, eg, large luxury, SUV, or the type of test. In addition, the VRC offers head restraint ratings, which are based on measurements of geometry (height and backset) for passenger cars, SUVs, and pickups. They are done by the manufacturers and offer a link to the criteria used.

The site gives an interesting history of highway safety, including the development of seat belts, and describes the three distinct areas that the Institute's research covers: human factors research, vehicle factors research and research aimed at the physical environment.

The Institute asserts that these and other programs help reduce deaths, injuries, and property damage from motor vehicle crashes. Reducing such losses is why the Institute exists.