Professional Crash Investigation and Analysis Since 1980
All Makes – Cars and Trucks
This list began in 1990 with a stated need in the Accident/Crash Reconstruction community for a centralized source of equivalent vehicles for referring to NHTSA crash tests, since NHTSA does not retest vehicles every year if they have not changed significantly, and generally will only test one sample vehicle of a family of vehicles that may be sold under different brand names but are essentially the same vehicle structurally. As such the focus of the list is primarily frontal collisions (for deriving stiffness coefficients, etc.). There are occasions when, for example, significant interior changes are made in the middle of a model’s run which may be relevant to occupant protection but will not be picked up in the list if there are not significant structural changes (i.e. changes in “hard points”, wheelbase, etc.) at the same time. The list was produced annually for the meeting of the Accident Investigation and Reconstruction Practices Committee (a Standards committee of SAE) at the SAE Congress in Detroit. However, that committee no longer exists in the form that produced this list.
Often the degree of change is arguable. (If you were to believe some manufacturers, their products are “all new” every year!). Whether to start a new “base” year (CLONE ID) is sometimes a judgment call and you may disagree. When there are changes like these the remarks column will generally say “Restyle” in some form or another. The CLONE ID may or may not have a break at this point, depending on the perceived degree of structural change. Either way, the terminology is there to alert you to this. If you have some insight into a specific area, call or e-mail me with your input. Try Wikipedia if you would like to do some research yourself.
Regarding trucks and SUVs, remember that the focus of the list is frontal crashes. Therefore comments will sometimes reflect an equivalent vehicle with (Front), (Fr), etc. This is because, for example, many of the truck-based SUVs have essentially the same structure from the cowl forward as the pickup trucks from which they were derived, but are greatly different to the rear. Therefore, if you are dealing with (for example) side impacts, rear impacts, yaw inertia, etc. the vehicles may not be equivalent.
Please also allow me the standard disclaimer in that I do not in any way guarantee the database. The database is large; errors may exist. Occasionally additional information becomes available that results in revisions to the database. Sources include automotive press, enthusiast magazines, Wikipedia and specifications tables, and these sometimes may not agree with each other. If something seems wrong, call or e-mail me. Telephone (608)256-8010, Fax 441-5707, e-mail greganderson522@cs.com. Periodic updates are made to the database throughout the year, with major updates every model year, usually early in the calendar year.
If your purposes require the full database other than as offered on the website, please contact me.
Gregory C. Anderson, P.E., 10 East Doty Street, Suite 800, Madison, WI 53703 (608) 256-8010 greganderson522@cs.com
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