Background In recent years, several factors may be reducing the average height and rigidity of the front structures of LTVs: manufacturers' efforts to increase crash compatibility of LTVs, introduction of "crossover" SUVs based on passenger-car chassis, and efforts to make LTVs lower to the ground in order to improve NCAP rollover-resistance ratings. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has designed a moving deformable barrier (MDB) that they claim is representative of the front structure of typical SUVs and that they propose to use for impact tests into the sides of other vehicles - but the "typical" SUV may have changed.

ObjectiveDetermine if LTVs are getting lower to the ground and/or less rigid, and whether or not the IIHS barrier is representative of modern-day SUVs.

Proposed Approach Frontal NCAP tests use load cells to measure the average height-of-force applied by the vehicle's frontal structure to the barrier, and they provide measures of frontal rigidity. These statistics can be supplemented by measurements of bumper height. Trends in height-of-force, rigidity and bumper height can be monitored and compared to the levels used in the IIHS barrier. This evaluation can probably be completed within a year, since it is based on analyses of existing data; it should be updated from time to time.