Studies of vehicular padding materials

The Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 571.201 discusses occupant protection with interior impacts of vehicles. Rule making by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has identified padding for potential injury reduction in vehicles. In these studies, head injury mitigation with padding on vehicular roll bars and brush bars was evaluated. Studies were conducted with free falling Hybrid 50% male head form drops on the forehead and side of the head and a 5% female head. Marked reductions in angular acceleration, as well as Head Injury Criterions (HIC), were observed when compared to unpadded roll bars and brush bars.