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Occupant protection
Around half of all those killed and injured on the roads are car occupants, while users of two-wheel motor vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists each account for 10 to 20 percent. In view of that, one focus of the work of the UDV is therefore the analysis of car accidents and identification of measures that can be taken to prevent accidents (see the chapter on driver assistance systems) and mitigate injuries. The progress made with safety features and, in particular, the protection of car occupants is reflected in the positive trend in the accident statistics: The number of car occupants killed in the last ten years has fallen by almost 50 percent. New developments are constantly emerging as a result of technical progress, and the UDV tracks these with a critical eye.
Collisions with a small overlap Small-overlap frontal impacts involving passenger cars have again become a topic of discussion among specialists, and more recently among the public at large. Read more. |
Crash tests with SUV The earlier analysis of SUV real-world collisions in Germany had shown that SUV drivers are not more accident-prone than the average car driver. However, when collisions occur, the crash opponents often fare worse as a result of the higher mass and ride-height of the SUV. The incompatibility... Read more. |
Small drivers Investigations carried out by the UDV (German Insurers Accident Research) indicate that small drivers run a greater risk of being seriously injured in a frontal impact. Women are primarily affected because of their smaller average size. The reason for this could be that they are forced by the... Read more. |
Seat Tests 2010 Since the IIWPG tests were launched in 2005, the safety of seat/head restraint combinations has significantly improved. Whereas five years ago 60 percent of all seats tested were rated "marginal" or "poor", this year only 28 percent were. This was found in a study of 211 seats in cars of the model... Read more. |
Safety of rear-seat passengers in cars In a research project lasting several years, the UDV investigated whether rear-seat passengers are as safe as drivers and front-seat passengers, how they behave and whether their safety can be improved. Read more. |
Seat Tests 2008 In 2008 the results of seat tests under rear-impact conditions were published by UDV for the fourth successive year. It is noted with pleasure that many new seats launched by vehicle manufacturers achieved “good” or “acceptable” results when measured in terms of the test protocol and the criteria... Read more. |
The effect of vehicle age Analyses of the accident database (UDB) of the UDV (German Insurers Accident Research) indicated that drivers of older vehicles suffer severe injuries more often than drivers of modern cars. For the purposes of the study, a car was defined as old or new cars depending on whether it was manufactured... Read more. |