Stability in vehicle rollover

Safety restraint systems greatly reduce the potential injury risk during vehicle accidents. One major type of accident still remains without adequate occupant protection: Vehicle Rollover. Safety restraint systems for rollover require the prediction of rollover accidents. In this paper, different approaches to detect and predict rollover are investigated. The focus is put on boundaries, requiring only measurements of angular velocity about the roll axis. Two different stability trajectories are derived. The usability of stability criteria is verified by computer simulation and experimental tests. Especially critical situations of near rollover situation challenge the performance of stability boundaries In normal vehicle operation, vehicle parameters might vary greatly. These effects have to be taken into account, if a stability criteria, which depends on these parameters is to trigger safety restraint systems. A sensitivity analysis was therefore performed to examine the dependence on different parameters.