Services

Our analytical team has extensive knowledge and experience in many aspects of motor vehicle safety. In particular we are able to undertake advanced statistical analysis and evaluation of data captured from both real-world collisions and staged crash tests, create specialized field and crash test databases with automated analyses, and are also well placed to conduct reviews of regulatory proposals, support the development of crashworthiness initiatives, and to provide advice on safety policy.

Primary Data Sources

The following collision databases are maintained on an on-going basis and are updated as soon as new data become available:

United States:

Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS)	1975 to 2019
National Automotive Sampling System (NASS)/ General Estimates System GES)	1988 to 2015
National Automotive Sampling System (NASS)/ Crashworthiness Data System (CDS)	1988 to 2015
National Automotive Sampling System (NASS)/Event Data Recorder Database (EDR)	2000 to 2015
Crash Injury Research (CIREN)	2004 to 2015
National Motor Vehicle Crash Causation Survey (NMVCCS)	2005 to 2007
Crash Report Sampling System (CRSS)	2016 to 2019
Crash Investigation Sampling System (CISS)	2016 to 2019
Crash Investigation Sampling System (CISS)/Event Data Recorder Database (EDR)	2016 to 2019

Canada:

TRaffic Accident Information Database (TRAID)	1984 to 2005
National Collision DataBase (NCDB)	1994 to 2017*
Canadian Vehicle Specifications (CVS)	1971 to 2019
* Some years may be incomplete

Safety Studies

Significant benefits to the safety of Canadians resulting from analytical projects that have been conducted by the firm's principals have included:

• Assessing the benefits and costs of improving chest protection in frontal collisions in Canada
• Analyses of field accident data documenting the injury experience of occupants in air bag crashes
• Development of crash testing protocols to evaluate the advanced frontal airbag systems
• Development of in-position and out-of-position testing procedures to evaluate frontal and side airbag performance
• The introduction of second-generation ("depowered") and advanced air bag systems throughout North America
• Development of padding strategies to improve side impact protection
• Development of enhanced crash test procedures to evaluate the side impact performance of cars and light trucks

Recent projects using the specific expertise of the firm's personnel have included:

• Analyses quantifying injury risks and the effectiveness of occupant restraint systems, with special consideration to children and the elderly
• Evaluation of enhanced regulatory crash test procedures with regard to small overlap and oblique frontal impacts
• Identification of collision causation, injury mechanisms, and potential countermeasures
• Development of data entry, validation, and analytical procedures for collision databases
• Analysis of NASS collision data and dynamic linking to related event data recorder (EDR) reports
• Access and analysis of NHTSA's crash test database with dynamic linking to the associated EDR Inventory

Selected Bibliography

Results from the above-noted studies have been widely disseminated in the international safety literature. Some recent publications are noted below:

Application of Multiple Rib Gages to Improve Chest Injury Measurements; Digges K, Dalmotas D and Prasad P; Paper No. 19-0266; Proc. 26th ESV Conf.; Eindhoven, Netherlands; June 10-13, 2019

The Application of Event Data Recorders to Vehicle Safety Research; Comeau J-L, Holmes W, Monk B, Dalmotas DJ, German A, Schramm S, Thannhauser S and Good C; Proceedings of the 27th CARSP Conference; Toronto, ON; June 18-21, 2017

The Incidence and Severity of Small Overlap Frontal Crashes in NASS-CDS; Prasad P, Dalmotas DJ and German A; Paper No. 15-0182-O; Proc. 24th International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles; Gothenburg, Sweden; June 8-11, 2015

Ejections and Fatalities in Single-Vehicle Rollover Crashes: A Question of Restraint; German A, Dalmotas DJ, Prasad P and Comeau J-L; Proceedings of the 25th CARSP Conference; Ottawa, ON; May 27-30, 2015

The Field Relevance of NHTSA's Oblique Research Moving Deformable Barrier Tests; Prasad P, Dalmotas DJ and German A; Paper No. 2014-07; Stapp Car Crash Journal; Volume 58; pp. 175-196; November, 2014

Frontal Corner Impacts - Crash Tests and Real-World Experience; D J Dalmotas, A German and P Prasad; Presented at the 6th. International ESAR Conference; Hannover, Germany; June 20-21, 2014

An Examination of Crash and NASS Data to Evaluate the Field Relevance of IIHS Small Offset Tests; Prasad P, Dalmotas D and German A; SAE Int. J. Trans. Safety; Vol. 2 No. 2; 2014

Minimizing the Injury Potential of Deploying Airbag Interactions with Car Occupants; Harold J. Mertz, Priya Prasad and Dainius J. Dalmotas; John Paul Stapp Memorial Lecture, 57th Stapp Car Crash Conference; Stapp Car Crash Journal; Vol. 57; SAE International; November, 2013

An NCAP Star Rating System for Older Occupants; Kennerly Digges, Dainius Dalmotas and Priya Prasad; Paper No. 13-0064; Proc. 23rd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles; Seoul, Korea; May 27-30, 2013

For full details of the above-noted publications and all of our other scientific papers, please see the complete list of our publications.