Aqbal Hafeez Ariffin

Child Motorcycle Pillion Rider Anthropometric Measurement

In Malaysia, wheremotorcycles are often used as a family vehicle, children tend to travel as pillion riders at an early age, most commonly sat in front of the rider, either on the fuel tank or in the carrying basket, or alternatively behind the rider. This study aims to determine the possible mismatches between individual lower limb dimensions of Malaysian primary students and motorcycle pillion seat. An anthropometric survey was carried out on a sample of male and female school children aged 7-9 years (N=233), to elucidate on the anthropometric parameters of Malaysian children. A set of seen body dimensions covering most of the lower extremity, relevant to the design of riding pillion on a motorcycle were considered. Additionally, an investigation of foot-foot peg gap and knee opening length on a static motorcycle test rig was also measured. There is a significant vertical difference between child pillion riders’ feet relative to motorcycle foot pegs. The maximum height of students who were not able to reach the foot pegs was 1263 mm with a mean of 1137 mm, which is similar with student volunteers’ age 7 years old (mean = 1160 mm). Stature influences the centre of gravity and stability of motorcycle, especially during cornering. This anthropometric analysis could be used to design ergonomic-oriented motorcycles which will not only suit the small stature of child pillion riders, but also improve the level of comfort.

Development of Mobile Deformable Barrier for Side Impact Crashworthiness Evaluation in ASEAN New Car Assessment Programme (ASEAN NCAP)

Side impact crash test simulates a road crash wherein the side of a vehicle is being impacted, either perpendicularly or at an angle, by the front-end of another vehicle of about similar mass. In Malaysia, this crash configuration is the second leading cause of fatality and injury in road crashes after frontal collision. Extensive research have been carried out worldwide in order to mitigate occupant injury in side impact collision through provision of side impact protection system in vehicle such as side impact airbags and side door bars. As a result, various global regulations and consumer test requirements concerning side impacts have been established to evaluate the effectiveness of the said protection system. Recently, the Malaysian government has implemented the United Nation’s regulation pertaining to side impact protection (UN Regulation 95) for new passenger vehicles in the country. Hence, as a newly established automobile safety rating programme in the region, the ASEAN New Car Assessment Programme (ASEAN NCAP) has a plan in the pipeline to implement UN R95 side impact crash test tentatively in its future assessment scheme. A mobile deformable barrier (MDB) was developed as a preparation towards implementing the ASEAN NCAP’s side impact crashworthiness evaluation. This paper describes characteristics and requirements of the UN R95 as well as the development of the MDB according to the regulation. Several tests and improvements were conducted to ensure the MDB is reliable and having high repeatability for testing.

Estimating Energy Absorbing Performance of Motorcycle Safety Helmet

Motorcyclists’ fatalities are overrepresented in the national statistics for years and the figure is predicted to rise further into the year 2020. In details, head injuries have contributed approximately 60% to the records, despite the use of safety helmets. New helmets performance has been well studied and widely accepted to reduce the head injury risks to motorcyclists by way of maximizing crash energy absorption. However in-service helmets energy management capability and information are limited. Therefore, this work attempts to further explore the knowledge and seek clarification of in-service helmet energy absorbing performance by performing experimental tests relative to standards protocols. A set of in-service helmets were collected from the public through an exchange basis and impact-tested twice per sites, at 4 sites, in accordance to MS1:1996 test protocols. The main data obtained was headform centre of gravity acceleration values, in terms of g. The results indicated that energy absorbing performances of most in-service helmets were able to meet standard requirements, regardless of their service ages. A few samples, however, demonstrated out of tolerance performances especially in the successive impact test at the same sites. Appearance of microcrack in the impact foam may have contributed to these values.

Comparative Study of Motorcycle Helmets Impact Performance

Two sets of new and in-service helmets were impact tested using a drop test machine, in accordance to established helmet test protocols. The first test for full helmets was executed in compliance with standard speed requirements of 5.9 m/s in which three of five new helmets performed poorly. The second set utilized lower impact speed of 4 m/s for individual helmet components test. New helmet liners absorbed 5 times more impact energy than the in-service liners while the new shell was 19.3% better in dispersing impact energy than the in-service shell. The undesirable changes in liner thickness have explicit effect on the liner density which is translated into reduction in energy absorbing potential. In brief, exposure to weathering stresses and use intensities has affected helmet impact performance, regardless of service duration.

Preliminary Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) for Safety Assist Technologies in ASEAN NCAP – Rationalizing the Impact to Road Safety for Malaysia’s Case

The newly established New Car Assessment Program for Southeast Asian Countries (ASEAN NCAP) has incorporated Safety Assist Technologies (SATs) in its automobile safety rating scheme. In order for any assessed car to be eligible for the maximum 5-star rating, it should first be equipped with Electronic Stability Control (ESC) and fitted with seatbelt reminder (SBR). However, since these SATs are not being evaluated in their performance by the means of field testing, this paper explains the benefit of having these SATs through Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) which help to rationalize the importance of SATs in preventing road accidents or mitigating severity of injuries. Due to data limitation, this preliminary CBA assessment will only be focusing on Malaysia’s situation and is based on published sources and the authors’ best estimates. This study also includes the Cost-Benefit Analysis on Anti-lock Braking System (ABS), which is the basis for ESC technology, in preparation for its inclusion in the future rating scheme to expedite the vision of making ABS as standard fit in all ASEAN’s passenger cars. The preliminary result shows that all technologies – ESC, SBR and ABS – appear to be cost-effective (benefit/cost-ratio > 3) or most likely cost effective (1 < benefit/cost-ratio < 3) in Malaysia’s road safety situation per se.

Assessment of Child Occupant Protection in ASEAN NCAP

Statistics show that child traffic injuries are a public health problem globally, including Southeast Asia (SEA) region. With an overall value of road traffic death rate among children of 7.4 per 100,000 populations has put SEA as the second region to have the highest death rate after Africa. Due to this alarming figure, many safety interventions and inventions have been introduced and implemented to mitigate child injuries resulted from road traffic accidents. One of them is the establishment of crashworthiness rating programme for new passenger cars to evaluate the resulted child injuries via destructive tests. The New Car Assessment Programme for Southeast Asia region (ASEAN NCAP) established to elevate vehicle safety standards, raise consumer awareness and encourage market for saver vehicles in the dedicated region. Currently the programme assessed and rated passenger cars based on performance of adult and child occupant protection in frontal offset crash tests. Since its introduction, ASEAN NCAP has crash tested 28 popular passenger cars throughout its development phases. During these phases, there has been improvement on the rating of child occupant protection (COP) with the increase of number of cars getting 4-star. This paper presents the results of ASEAN NCAP tests for the development phases in term of COP rating as well as provides explanation on the related assessment.

ASEAN NCAP Crash Tests: Modifier Assessment Justified

ASEAN New Car Assessment Program (ASEAN NCAP) is a newly established automobile safety rating program in the Southeast Asia region, which the primary objective is to provide consumers with vehicle safety information and concurrently acknowledge manufacturers’ effort in elevating vehicle safety level. This information is comprehensively gathered through scientific and objective testing procedures in full scale crash test simulation. To ensure consistency and high repeatability, ASEAN NCAP operates standardized test and assessment protocols which utilize high-tech equipment and sensors, data acquisition system and also human surrogates (instrumented “dummies”). A point system is derived for marking purposes and a star rating scheme is designed to reflect the level of safety afforded to occupants. To cater for variation in crash configurations, occupants’ sizes and kinematics as well as other potential risks during crash impacts, a point deduction system (penalty-based) named as “modifiers” were introduced. Hence, this work attempts to describe the modifiers, their basis and justifications for inclusion in the safety rating scheme. A few case studies are demonstrated in this paper to enhance the understandings of modifiers concept.

Assessment of Bus Interior Design in Malaysia

Road accidents involving bus in Malaysia is very alarming. National statistics showed that bus accident cases increased significantly at 48% between the year 2006 and the year 2008. This study focuses on design of bus concerningon ergonomics factors to eliminate injury that may pose to bus passenger either in collision or non-collision event. Data sourcethat used for this paper were obtained from bus a carried out at PUSPAKOM. This study managed to assess 224 samples and collected measurement for items stated in UN R36. Several design issues that can potentially contribute to passenger injury such as doors, seats, handrail and steps are highlighted and discussed in this paper. Findings from this paper revealed that current regulation already address the critical measurement to ensure passenger safety is taking care while in the bus. However, some related items seem to be obsolete and need to be revised accordingly.