Amended proposal for a EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND COUNCIL DIRECTIVE RELATING TO THE SIDE-IMPACT RESISTANCE OF MOTOR VEHICLES AND AMENDING DIRECTIVE 70/156/EEC
Date: 1995-10-02
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: management techniques, motor vehicle, safety standard, testing, transport accident, transport safety

COMMISSION  OF THE EUROPEAN  COMMUNITIES 

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Brussels,  02.10.1995 
COM(95)454 final 

94/0322  (COD) 

Amended  proposal  for  a 

EUROPEAN  PARLIAMENT  AND COUNCIL  DIRECTIVE 

RELATING TO THE SIDE-IMPACT RESISTANCE OF MOTOR VEHICLES AND 

AMENDING DIRECTIVE 70/156/EEC 

(presented  by  the Commission  pursuant  to Article  189 a (2) 
of the  EC-Treaty) 

EXPLANATORY  MEMORANDUM 

On 13 December  1994, the Commission sent to the Council a proposal for a new directive 
introducing  measures  to  improve the  side impact  resistance  of  motor  vehicles,  amending 
also Directive 70/156/EEC (COM(94)519 of  13 December 1994). 

On  12 July  1995,  the  European  Parliament  approved  the  proposal  in  the  first  reading, 
subject  to  11 amendments.  The  Commission  has  accepted  all  but  one  of  the  proposed 
amendments subject to certain drafting changes. 

The substance of the amendments is the deletion  of the two-stage approach,  proposed by 
the Commission  (in which  the  severity  of the test  was increased  in phases by raising the 
ground  clearance  of  the  impacting  barrier  from  260  to  300  mm),  in  favour  of  the 
immediate  adoption  of the  more  severe test  in  October  1998.  The  Commission,  having 
taken  soundings  with  interested  parties,  can  accept  this  approach  since  it  ensures  a 
parallelism with the introduction  of the new Directive on frontal  impact and because  it is 
possible  industrially  to  ensure  the  earlier  introduction  date  than  foreseen  in  the  second 
stage of the original proposal. 

Amendment 7a. relating to the position of the seat in the test, cannot be accepted because 
of the need to allow the Technical Service responsible for the test the possibility to  specify 
a different  position.  This would  avoid the risk that padding might be used to  protect just 
one  position  or  that  potentially  harmful  equipment  inside  the  door  might  be  sited  away 
from that position,  simply to comply with the test requirements in the single position. 

Amendment  10. which  extends the footnote  already  amended by 7b, is incompatible with 
7a.  Since the Commission  cannot accept  Amendment  7a (see above), there is no longer a 
need  to  extend  the footnote.  (Amendments  7 and  10 are mutually  inconsistent  but  both 
were adopted by Parliament). 

Amendment 5. relating to the wording of Article 4 in respect of a future  review of the test 
requirements, has been accepted  in principle.  The commitment to a specific future  barrier 
height  of  350  mm  is,  however,  unacceptable.  Whilst  the  Commission  accepts  and 
supports the principle that the effects  of this legislation on road safety  should be examined 
and,  if necessary,  the  future  severity  of the  test  increased,  it  is  opposed  to  inclusion  of 
such a specific parameter since it would: 

pre-judge the outcome of the review and 

create de facto  a second standard  in the market place. 

- 2-

All remaining amendments  of the Parliament  can be accepted  and have been  incorporated 
in the amended  proposal  of the Commission,  subject  to  improvements  in the  drafting  and 
layout. 

Opportunity  has  been  taken  to  include  the  text  for  Addendum  2  of  Appendix  1  of 
Annex II, in respect  of the calculation of the viscous criterion. 

- 3-

Amended proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and the Council 

relating to the side-impact resistance of motor vehicles and amending Directive 70/156/EEC 

ORIGINAL TEXT 

AMENDED TEXT 

Article 2 (2) 

2.  With  effect  from  1 October  1995 

Member States: 

With  effect  from  1 October  1998 
Member States: 

shall  not  grant  EEC  type-
approval  in  accordance  with 
Article 
of  Directive 
70/156/EEC, and 

4 

may  refuse  to  grant  national 
type-approval, 

shall  not  grant  EEC  type-
approval  in  accordance  with 
Article 
of  Directive 
70/156/EEC, and 

4 

may  refuse  to  grant  national 
type-approval, 

unless the vehicle type satisfies  the 
requirements of this Directive. 

unless the vehicle type satisfies the 
requirements of this Directive. 

Article 2 (3) 

Paragraph  2  shall  not  apply  to 
types  approved  before 
vehicle 
1 October  1995  pursuant  to  any 
two  of  the  following  directives: 
(latches 
Directive  70/387/EEC 
Directive 
and 
74/483/EEC  (exterior  projections) 
and  Directive  76/115/EEC  (seat 
belt  anchorages) 
and,  where 
applicable,  subsequent  extensions 
to these approvals 

hinges), 

Paragraph  2  shall  not  apply  to 
types  approved  before 
vehicle 
1 October  1998  pursuant  to  any 
two  of  the  following  directives: 
Directive  70/387/EEC 
(latches 
Directive 
and 
74/483/EEC  (exterior  projections) 
and  Directive  76/115/EEC  (seat 
belt  anchorages) 
and,  where 
applicable,  subsequent  extensions 
to these approvals. 

hinges), 

- 4-

Article 2 (4) 

4.  With  effect  from  1 October  2000 
Member  States  shall  consider 
certificates  of  conformity  which 
accompany 
in 
new 
accordance 
Directive 
with 
70/156/EEC  to  be  no  longer valid 
for the purposes of Article 7 (1) of 
that  Directive,  if  the  requirements 
of this Directive are not  fulfilled. 

vehicles 

new  vehicles 

With  effect  from  1 October  2003 
Member  States  shall  consider 
certificates  of  conformity  which 
accompany 
in 
accordance 
Directive 
with 
70/156/EEC  to be no longer  valid 
for the purposes of Article 7 (1) of 
that  Directive,  if the  requirements 
of this Directive are not  fulfilled. 

Article 3 (2) 

Annex  IV  to  Directive  70/156/EEC  is 
hereby amended as follows. 

Annex  IV  to  Directive  70/156/EEC  is 
hereby amended as follows: 

In Part I the following item is added: 

"54. 
95/.../EEC  L... 

Side-impact 
x—x 

resistance 
" 

In  Part  I  the  following  item  is 

1. 
added: 

"54. 
95/.../EEC  L... 

Side-impact 
x—x 

resistance 
" 

In  Part  II  the  following  item  is 

2. 
added: 

"54. 

Side-impact 

resistance 

5-

Article 4 

to 

this  Directive 

In the framework of the adaptation 
technical 
of 
progress,  a  second  stage  shall  be 
adopted  by  the  Commission. 
It 
shall  be  based  on  a  review  of the 
technical  criteria  and  in  particular 
the  viscous  criteria,  front  seat 
position  and  the ground  clearance 
of the barrier.  The review criteria 
will  include  inter  alia  accident 
statistics,  accident  research  data, 
full  scale  car-to-car  test  results, 
experience  gained  from  approval 
cost-benefit 
tests 
considerations.  Notwithstanding 
the above, the ground clearance of 
the  barrier  shall  be  increased  to 
review 
300  mm,  unless 
the 
demonstrates 
that  a  different 
barrier  height  would  provide  an 
equivalent level of protection. 

and 

to 

from 

two  years 

In  the  framework  of  the  adaptation  of 
technical  progress 
this  Directive 
within 
the  date 
mentioned  in Article 2(2), a review shall 
be held  by the  Commission.  It  shall  be 
based  on  a  review  of  the  technical 
criteria  and,  in  particular,  the  viscous 
criterion,  front  seat  position  and  the 
ground  clearance  of  the  barrier.  The 
review  criteria  will  include  inter  alia 
accident  research  data,  full  scale car-to-
car 
cost-benefit 
considerations.  The review will examine 
in  passenger 
the  potential  gains 
protection  and  the  industrial  feasibility 
of increasing the ground clearance of the 
barrier.  The  results  of  this  review  will 
the 
be  subject 
Commission to the European  Parliament 
and Council. 

report  from 

results 

to  a 

and 

test 

stage 
the 

shall  be 
second 
This 
applicable  at 
request  of 
manufacturers  on  an  optional 
basis  from  1  January  1998  and 
shall be mandatory for new vehicle 
types  approved  from  1  October 
2001 . 

second 

stage  will  be 
This 
applicable to all new vehicles from 
1  October  2004,  subject 
to  a 
report from  the Commission to the 
European  Parliament  and  Council 
to be made no later than  1  October 
2002  on  the  operation  of  the 
Directive 
industrial 
and 
fcasibi'ity of the above date. 

the 

6-

Article 5(1) 

Member  States  shall  bring  into 
force  the  laws,  regulations  and 
administrative 
provisions 
necessary  to  comply  with  this 
Directive  before  1  October 1995. 
They  shall  forthwith  inform  the 
Commission thereof. 

Member  States  shall  bring  into 
force  the  laws,  regulations  and 
administrative 
provisions 
necessary  to  comply  with  this 
Directive  before  1  October  1996. 
They  shall  forthwith  inform  the 
Commission thereof. 

Annex II - Paragraph  3.1.2 - Footnote 

(1)  Until  30  September  1998,  for  the 
purposes  of  the  test  requirements,  the 
range of normal longitudinal  adjustments 
shall be limited such that the H-point lies 
within the length of the door aperture. 

(1)  Until  30  September  2000.  for  the 
purposes  of  the  test  requirements,  the 
range of normal longitudinal  adjustments 
shall be limited such that the H-point lies 
within the length of the door aperture. 

Annex II - Appendix 2 

Paragraph 2.1.3 

2.1.3 

The ground  clearance of the 
collision  zone  shall  be  260 
mm  ±  5  mm  measured  in 
before 
condition 
static 
impact, 
the 
subject 
provisions  of  Article  4  of 
this Directive. 

to 

2.1.3 

The ground  clearance of the 
collision  zone  shall  be  300 
mm  ±  5  mm  measured  in 
before 
condition 
static 
impact, 
the 
subject 
provisions  of  Article  4  of 
this Directive. 

to 

Ground clearance = 260 mm 

Ground clearance = 300 mm 

Annex II - Appendix 2 - Figure 1 

Annex II - Appendix  1  - Addendum 2 (New Text) 

- 7-

"PROCEDURE FOR CALCULATING THE  VISCOUS CRITERION (V*C) FOR SIDE 
IMPACT DUMMY 

The viscous criterion is calculated as the instantaneous product of the compression and the 
rate  of  deflection  of  the  sternum.  Both  arc  derived  from  the  measurement  of  sternum 
deflection. 

The  sternum  deflection  response  is filtered once  at  Channel  Frequency  Class  180. The 
compression at time t  is calculated  from  this filtered  signal expressed as the proportion of 
the half width of the EUROSID  1  chest, measured at the metal ribs (0.14 m): 

C(i)  -

D(o 
0.14 

The sternum deflection  velocity at time t is calculated from the filtered deflection as: 

V»> = 

8 X ( AI  + O - A ' - - I > ) - ( A'  + 2 ) - A / - 2 >) 
\2St 

where  D(t)  is  the  deflection  at  time  t  in  metres  and  5t  is  the  time  interval  in  seconds 
between the measurements  of deflection.  The  maximum  value  of 5t  shall  be  1,25 x 10"4 
seconds.  This calculation procedure is shown diagrammatically below; 

Measured  Deflection 

Filter at CFC 180 

Calculate Deflection 
Velocity:  Vw 

I  Calculate Compression 

Cw 

Calculate Viscous 
Criterion  at time / 
(V*C)W  =  1.3(V„, x  CJ 

Détermine the 
Maximum value of V*C 

( V * CU  = max [(V*C)(J 

-X 

ISSN 0254-1475 

COM(95) 454  final 

DOCUMENTS 

EN 

07 

Catalogue number  :  CB-C0-95-496-EN-C 

ISBN 92-77-93917-6 

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_c\-