LOG OF MEETING

DIRECTORATE FOR ENGINEERING SCIENCES

SUBJECT: Recreational Off-Highway Vehicles (ROVs) – Meeting requested by the 

U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) staff to demonstrate test 

methodology for J-turn tests that are performed to measure the rollover threshold lateral 

acceleration of ROVs.

DATE OF MEETING: April 10, 2013

PLACE OF MEETING: Transportation Research Center (TRC), East Liberty, OH

LOG ENTRY SOURCE: Caroleene Paul, ESME

COMMISSION ATTENDEES: See attached attendance list

NON-COMMISSION ATTENDEES: See attached attendance list

SUMMARY OF MEETING:

Representatives of the Recreational Off-Highway Vehicle Association (ROHVA) met 

with CPSC staff to observe J-turn tests performed by SEA Limited at the Vehicle 

Dynamics Area (VDA) of the Transportation Research Center (TRC) located in East 

Liberty, Ohio.

CPSC staff opened the meeting by reviewing the scope and ground rules for the public 

meeting:

 The purpose of the meeting was to allow observation of the test methodology 

and preliminary analysis of data for J-turn tests of an exemplar ROV.

 Discussions would be limited to how the tests were performed and how the data 

was processed. No conclusions or rulemaking decisions would be discussed.

 The preliminary data would be presented for discussion purposes only. A full 

report on the test results will be made available to the public at a later date.

Dr. Gary Heydinger of SEA Limited presented an overview of the test surface and its 

maintenance, the loading conditions for the vehicles, the design of the outriggers used 

in testing, the instrumentation and parameters measured, the steering robot used to 

control the steering input, and the general test procedures to perform the J-turn tests. 

The meeting participants were given the opportunity to inspect an instrumented vehicle 

and ask questions. The participants then observed a set of J-turn tests conducted on 

the VDA. Twenty test runs were conducted in equal batches in both left and right 

directions in the Southbound direction. Earlier tests that morning were conducted in the 

Northbound direction. Performing the test runs in opposite directions average any 

contributing variability. The test data was processed and presented to show how the 
data is plotted to measure the vehicle’s lateral acceleration at rollover threshold (defined 

by visual two wheel lift of the vehicle in a J-turn maneuver). Plots of the lateral 

acceleration showed consistent results with a standard deviation of less than 1 percent 

of the mean value.

SEA staff answered questions on the instrumentation, test methodology, and data 

processing. CPSC staff answered questions on when the full test report will be made 

available to the public and what will be included in the report.
MEETING ATTENDANCE RECORD

ROHVA / CPSC Staff – April 10, 2013

COMMISSION ATTENDEES:

NAME ORGANIZATION PHONE E-MAIL

Mark Kumagai CPSC 301-987-2234 mkumagai@cpsc.gov

Caroleene Paul CPSC 301-987-2225 cpaul@cpsc.gov

Anthony Teems CPSC 301-987-2329 ateems@cpsc.gov
MEETING ATTENDANCE RECORD

ROHVA / CPSC Staff – April 10, 2013

NON-COMMISSION ATTENDEES:

NAME ORGANIZATION PHONE E-MAIL

Ron Bixel SEA 800-782-6851 rbixel@sealimited.com

Nicholas Cheek Carr Engineering 281-894-8955 nic@ceimail.com

Annamarie Daley Barnes & Thornburg 612-270-4598 adaley@btlaw.com

Aaron Deckard Polaris Industries 651-398-0568 aaron.deckard@polaris.com

Jeff Eyres Polaris Industries 763-542-2309 jeff.eyres@polaris.com

Brad Franklin Yamaha Motor Corp. 714-761-7842 brad_franklin@yamaha-motors.com

Tyler Furman Kawasaki Motors Corp 402-440-6597 tfurman@lcn.kmmfg.com

Jared Henthorn SEA 800-782-6851 jhenthorn@sealimited.com

Gary Heydinger SEA 800-782-6851 gheydinger@sealimited.com

Hank Jebode SEA 800-782-6851 hjebode@sealimited.com

James Jongkind Honda 310-783-3402 James_Jongkind@ahm.honda.com

Michael Morris Arctic Cat 218-681-9799 mmorris@arcticcatinc.com

Stephen Oesch Public 301-229-4692 stephen.oesch@gmail.com

David Renfroe Engineering Institute 479-846-8000 dar@enginst.org

Brandon Ricketts Honda 937-309-2243 bricketts@oh.hra.com

John Sand Public 513-207-5556 johnsand@mac.com

Tammie Sand Public 513-417-3304 elliesand@mac.com

Anmol Sidhu SEA 800-782-6851 asidhu@sealimited.com

Mike Tveite Polaris Industries 651-408-7540 michael.tveite@polaris.com

Paul Vitrano ROHVA 949-727-4211 pvitrano@rohva.org

James Walker Carr Engineering 281-894-8955 jwjr@ceimail.com

Mike Wiegard Eckert Seamans 202-659-6603 mwiegard@eckertseamans.com