In order to earn a good rating a vehicle s roof must withstand a.
Roof strength test.
The iihs roof strength crash test is conducted by pushing a metal plate at constant speed against one side of a vehicle s roof.
The inside iihs series of videos offers a behind the scenes glimpse of the work of the insurance institute for highway safety s vehicle research center.
The following video shows how the roof strength test is conducted.
The playback speed of this video has been increased.
The model years of the tested vehicles ranged from 1997.
Iihs news release march 24 2009 roof strength is focus of new rating system.
Roof crush testing of one side of the vehicle one sided testing was performed from april 2001 through march 2008 on 75 passenger vehicles.
The plate normally crushes at a rate of about 1 8 inch per second.
In this test of the 2010 buick lacrosse the peak force is 19 571 pounds for a strength to weight ratio of 4 90 and a good rating.
Roof strength the measure of roof strength was obtained from nhtsa s office of vehicle safety research roof crush test data.
The head restraints seats rating is based on a sled test of the vehicle s seat and head restraint.