Basic considerations on the benefit of passive safety measures to passenger cars and their effects on fuel consumption Online publication date: Sun, 25-May-2014
by R. Hoefs, M. Rauser, R. Georgi
International Journal of Vehicle Design (IJVD), Vol. 7, No. 5/6, 1986
Abstract: About 50% of all traffic casualties are passenger-car occupants. Efforts are being made to reduce injury severity by measures such as traffic planning and driver education, on the one hand, and by measures on the vehicles themselves, meant to improve occupant protection in collisions, on the other. Experience has shown that almost any safety-related measure in passenger cars entails a weight increase, resulting in a rise in fuel-consumption. According to the actual state of the art, it seems to be impossible to find a solution to this conflict of objectives. The effects of safety measures on fuel consumption are examined, by taking the examples of the 'positive door-locking device', and 'preloaded belt systems'. Their benefit for vehicle occupants is confirmed by means of basic investigations. Since it is very difficult to weigh the effective cost of these safely measures against the consequential cost of accident injuries, which cannot be objectively determined, such measures should not be evaluated merely from a cost-benefit point of view.
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