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                Safety Eligibility Letter CC-36C
  
  **Hardware Type:**
            Barrier Terminals and Crash Cushions
                          **Code:**
            CC-36C
                          **Date:**
            11/06/2002
                                  **Manufacturer:**
            Impact Absorption, Inc.
                          **Device Description:**
            Supplemental test (3-52) @ TL-3
                          **View PDF:**
            cc36c.pdf (49.42 KB)
    
    
November 6, 2002
HSA-10/CC36C
Mr Michael Kempen
  Impact Absorption, Inc.
  46-06 245th Street
  Douglaston, NY 11362
Dear Mr. Kempen:
Your October 6 letter to Mr. Richard Powers of my staff requested formal acknowledgement 
  that the modified Vanderbilt Truck-Mounted Attenuator (VTMA) successfully passed 
  NCHRP Report 350 test 3-52.  The modified VTMA design, originally deemed crashworthy 
  by Mr. Frederick G. Wright, Jr. in a February 13, 2001 letter, added support 
  wheels and an impact face to the original VMTA, which was cantilevered from 
  the support vehicle and supported by a wire rope/steel boom assembly.  As you 
  noted in your letter, test 3-52 is currently one of two optional TMA tests identified 
  in Report 350.  To support your request, you also submitted a copy of the Transportation 
  Research Center Inc. April 2002 test report, "NCHRP Report 350 Test 3-52 
  of the Vanderbilt Truck-Mounted Attenuator" and a videotape of the crash 
  test.
Test 3-52 requires a 100-km/h impact at zero degrees with a 2000-kg pickup 
  truck striking the attenuator with the centerline of the pickup truck offset 
  one-third of the pickup truck width from the centerline of the TMA.  Your test 
  was run within these parameters with a maximum reported occupant impact velocity 
  of 11.8 m/s and a maximum ridedown acceleration of 13.1 g's.  Vehicle pitch 
  and roll did not exceed 5 degrees.  Following impact, the 8736 kg support vehicle 
  rolled ahead 8.4 m.
Based on the reported test results, I concur that the VMTA met NCHRP Report 
  350 evaluation criteria for test 3-52. 
Sincerely yo
urs,
(original signed by Harry 
  W. Taylor)
for:
Carol H. Jacoby, P.E.
  Director, Office of Safety Design U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

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