SAE TECHNICAL

PAPER SERIES 960897

Updating the Vehicle Class Categories

Donald E Slddall and Terry D Day

Engmeenng Dynamics Carp

Reprmted from- Accident Reconstrucbon Technology and Ammabon VI

(SP-1150)

ma E The Engmeermg Sonefy

For Advancmg Mobrhty lnternatlonal Congress & Exposition
Land Sea Air and Space, Detroit, Michigan
I N T E R N A T I O N A L February 26-29,1996

400 Commonwealth Drive, Warrendale, PA 15096-0001 U.S A Tel (412)776-4841 Fax-(41 2)776-5760
Theappearanceofthe ISSNccdeatthe bottomofthlspagemdloates SAE’smnsent
that copies of the paper may be made for personal or Internal use of spenflc chants
Thwxmsent lsgwenonthecondltlon however,thatthemplerpaya$7 OOpararkle
copy fee through the Copynght Clearance Center, lnc Operations Center, 222
Rosewood Drwe. Danvers. MAO1 923forcopytng beyond that permitted by Sections
107 or 108 of U S Copynght Law This consent does not extend to other knds of
mpymg such as copymg for general dlstnbutton, for adverhsmg or pmmotlonal
purposes, for creatmg new collectwe works, or for resale

SAE mutmely stocks pnnted papers for a penod of three years followmg date of
publlcatlon Direct your orders to SAE Customer Sales and Satlsfacbon
Department

Quantity reprmt rates can be obtamsd from the Customer Sales and Satisfacbon
Department

To request penwon to repnnt atechmcal paperor perm!ss~on to use copynghted

SAE pubkatlons m other works, contact the SAE Pubkatlons Group

GLOML MOBIlJlY DAT434SE

No part of this pubkatlon may be reproduced m any form, m an electromc retneval

system or othenvse, wrthout the poor written pemws~on of the publisher

ISSN 014&7191
CopyrIght 1996 Society of Automotive Engineers, Inc

Posltlons and opm~ons advanced In this paper are those of the author(s) and not
necessarily those of SAE The author IS solely responsible for the content of the
paper A process IS avaIlable by whtch dwusslons wll be pnnted wth the paper If
It IS publtshed m SAE TransactIons For perrmsslon to publish this paper In full or m
part, wntact the SAE Pubkatlons Group

Persons wlshmg to subma papers to be consIdered for presentation or publlcatlon

through SAE should send the manuscript or a 300 word abstract of a proposed
manuscript to Secretaly, Engmeenng Meetings Board, SAE

Pnnted m USA %x.%9

 960697
Updating the Vehicle Class Categories
Donald E Siddall and Terry D Day
Englneenng Dynamics Carp
Copyright 19% Socraly of Autom~t,ve EngIneen Inc

ABSTRACT HISTORY OF GENERIC DATA

The use of “genenc v&cle data” gamed wide user The genenc data shown m Table 1 were ongmally
acceptance with the mtxoductzon of the CRASH3 computer developed m 1981 for use m the CRASH3 c?mputer program
program m 1981 The categones were broadened for use m by CALSPAN under contract to NHTSA [I] In 1984, Table
EDVAP m 1984 However, the categones have not been 1 was extended by Engmeermg Dynmmcs Corporahon to
updated smce 1984, and the data rehed upon by vehmle safety mclude a genenc on-hlghway tmck Thus extended table was
researchers has become stale Tlus paper updates the vehicle used by EDVAP [2]
class categories, as well as broadens the categories to provide
a more useful set of genenc vehicles for a newer vehicle Use and Purpose
population mxx which now mcludes mnu-vans, small plckups The genenc data were ortgmally derived from the
and mulh-purpose velucles The paper describes the methods stahshcal analysis of a number of vehzles The genenc data
used for estabhshmg the categories, calculahng the mdwldual did not represent any specfic vehicle, but provided a
vehicle parameters for each category and extendmg the reasonable estnnate for each parameter Genenc data were
categories to mclude threedlmenslonal vehicle parameters especmlly useful for stahstlcal studies where, because of the
large populahon sample size, a lack of preclslon for any
particular vehtcle parameter would not lead to systemauc
GOOD VEHICLE DATA are required for the accurate error Genenc data also represented a good “startmg pomt” for
reconstructron and sunutahon of motor vehxle crashes Safety vehicle parameters used m the IeCOnStruchOn and smndahon
researchers use reconstmchon and sunulatlon techmques to of mdlvldual acctdents
determme the cause(s) of mdwldual crashes as well as m
StahShCat studies Hlstoncally researchers have depended Problems With Current Data
upon the use of genenc” velucle data, that IS, average A quahtahve remew o f t h e 1981-era vehicle
statlstlcally derived values for the reqmred dImensIona populatmn revealed a majonty of vehicles were front engme
mertml and shuctaral parameters The researcher assIgned rear-wheel dnve Wlule many smaller vehicles of that era used
these values by choosmg a class cafegory accordmg to the umbody ConstructIon, most of the mtermedlate and larger
vehole’s wheelbase as shown m Table 1 The reconsbuctlon vehicles shll used a frame A sundar review of the modem
or slmulahon program would use the chosen category to assign vehicle population revealed a large major@ of vehicles were
the appropriate parameters from a bmlt-m data table The front eugme, front-wheel drive, nearly all vehicles used
parameters loaded m the tables are also shown m Table 1 mubody construction In addmon, modem safety research has
resulted m design concepts wluch Improved crush energy
management

Numbers m brackets designated references found at the end A comparison between the 1981 and 1990’s vehicle
of the paper populations also revealed a difference m the types of vehicles
on the road For example, m 1981 there was one basic size for

1
 TABLE 1 Vehrcle Class Categories, Cfrca 1981

‘ARAMETE iF
R CLASS CATEGORIES
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
wns1 a/9 IO
nwsble Bi
irheelbase (I 30 9-94 I48 101 E 016110~ 10 4-117: 175-123: 1232150 109130 1200

Track (m) 51 1 546 589 61 8 637 637 676 600

Length (rn) 1598 1749 1962 2128 2237 2294 1836 1800

Width (rn) 808 672 726 770 79 8 798 790 780

A (14 451 463 513 547 58 1 601 485 540

6 04 48 1 50 1 555 592 830 651 885 660

Xf (In) 760 833 898 988 101 a 1042 75 6 840

x (IN 838 91 6 1064 1140 1219 1252 1070 960

Ftsq (lll2) 2006 2951 3324 3741 4040 4229 3713 4024

z (lb-set’-rr 11434 23313 30514 41114 50864 58106 41586 41908

Weight (b)’ 2202 3053 3547 4247 4865 5309 4300 4000

:alfa t (lb/de! 94 131 152 182 209 228 209 1000

:a!,. r(ib/dec 88 121 141 168 193 210 193 1000

LEGEND A = Distance from CG to front axte Rsq = Radw of gyration squared

6 = Distance from CG to rear tie IT2
- = Yaw
- mOme”t of ~...
Inertia
Xt = C%tance from CG to front of vehicle pa;B’,a = t Ire cornwng StmneSS
X = DvSance from CG to rear of vehicle Weight mcludes 3W lb occupant loading
NOTE Fixed barrws (categov 11) are asslgned inertial proper& (mass yaw ineri~a) of 10’These values are
not reasslgnable The bamer s dlmenslons (100” by 100”) can be reasslgned. however

ptchups and bans NOR there arc h~o (mtm and full-wed) The the new categories \vas extended to mclude the data necessary
popular malt+purpose vehtcle (e g Chevrolet S- IO Blazerand to evzcute 3-D reconstrac~on and stmulauon models The
Ford Explorer) did not eben eust m 1981 specific procedures are descrtbed below
Another dtfference came not from the changes m
vzlucles b u t f r o m nnprovcments m rcconshxct~on a n d Procedure
sanulatmn models Fullv 3-dnnens~onal models are now Devclopmg the new vehx+e class catcgones and
avadable [3] whtch requnc addthonal data (ttre m o d e l s related data mvolved the followmg procedures
suspenston models drtvetratn models brahe sq stem models) l Detinmg new vetacle types and categones
not used by earher 2-d~mcnsmnal snIUdahOnS
* Idenhfvmg the v&&s m each new category
For the reasons stated above It became necessan to * Idenufytng the reqwcd velncle parameters
update the generx vehtcle data categorves * Acqwmg the data for each vehtcle
* Calculatmg the genertc (average) data for each catc-
UPDATING THE CATEGORIES mY
New vehwle class categortes were dweloped to sohe
the above problems and hmttaattons The new categows
tncluded standard passenger cars as well as new %ehtcle fipes Each of these steps IS descrrbed below
which reflect the current (and hopefully fuhue) vehtcle
populatKxl) where necessarv new class categones were
created for some vehicle h pes Ftnall~ data acqrusttton for all

2
TABLE 2 New Vehde Types TABLE 3-l Passenger Car Class Categones

New Types Previous Categones

/ Passenger Car I l-a, 9
a
I Pickup
Vatl
Multi-purpose
7
N/A
1 Truck 12
Trader N/A
/ Dolly N/A
I Barner IO,11
TABLE 3-2 Pickup Class Categones

1 Define New Vehicle Types and Categones

B a s e d o n t h e current vehicle populahon, etght
fundamental vebwle types were defmed (see Table 2)
Passengercarswere definedas aIx+d~honalpassenger
vehicle and dwtded mm five classes accordmg to wheelbase TABLE 3-3 Van Class Categones
The wheelbase rangesadoptedmthenewcategones (seeTable
3-l) were the same as those used m the ongmal categones
In the ongmal system, Class 8 was a single category
devoted to pwkaps, regardless of thezr size The new
generahon of p&ups requued a new P~kup vehzle type V&I
two classes mwu (Class 1) andfull-sue (Class 2) See Table
3-2
TABLE 3-4 Mu/&purpose Vehicle Class Categones
Ltke ptckaps, the ongmal system also had a smgle
category Class 7, for vans The new generahott of mnu-vans
requred a new Van vehtcle type W&I two Classes mnn (Class
1) andfull-size (Class 2) See Table 3-3
In the orlgmal system, Class 9 was a stngle category
devoted to front wheel dnve vehicles The current research
suggested that drwe axle (I e , front or rear drive) was no longer connechon for a tier) Four classes for ticks were created
a dwngutshmg featare, but that passenger w wheelbase was accordmg to wheelbase and the number of rear axles (satgle
acruallv a fatrly good predxztor of drwe axle (larger cars tend vs tandem), as shown m Ftgare 3-5
to be rear drive) Therefore, Class 9 was abandoned and the
tssue of drove axle was absorbed mto the mdwdaal Passenger A new category was also created for Trorlers
Car Class Categones Because of the wde variety of traders, four classes were
created based on a qoahtahve assessment of the on-htghwap
Muln-purpose vehicles were not mcluded m the poor pOpUlahOn (see Table 3-6)
svstem (these vehuzles did not emst as a d~stmct spectes III
1981) A qaahratlve review of the current populahon of A new category was also created for Doilys w ~th m o
mulh-purpose vehtcles suggested an approach hke that used classes fixed and collve&?r (see Table 3-7) The tnclus~on of
for pickups and vans Two new Mdh-purpose classes were this new category WIN alIow researchers to execute SmIulahonS
created mwn (Class 1) and&N-sue (Class 2) See Table 3-4 mvolvmg mulhple tiers
New categones were created for on-h&way Tracks The emhng categones for movable and faed SAE
The new category mcluded botb s&ughtnuc& (I e , those P.&I barriers (see Table 3-8) were mcluded to allow crash test
load-hauhng capabzhty) and track tractors (I e , those whtch sunulahon
do not normallv carry a load, but act as a tow veh~le wtth a

3
 2 Identify Vehicles In Each Category
The Market Data Book, pubhshed annually by the
TABLE 3-5 Truck Class Categories Automohve News ]4] mcludes the annual US sales figures for
passenger cars, ptckups, vans and m&t-purpose vehtcles The
Descnptmn vehicles were dwded tnto the newly estabhshed categortes
and ranked accordmg to numbers sold The top ten vehtcles m
Single Axle each category were then tdenhfied for the years between 1983
Smgle Axle and 1993 (see Table 4) These vehtcles were selected for data
acqulstho"

Stm~lar volume sales data were not found for vehtcles

m the Truck, Trader and Dolly categortes In addlhon to the
lack of sales data, the wade vartety of vehtcles found tn each
TABLE 3-6 Trader C/ass Categones category made matters worse As an mtttal approach
pubhshed research was used [5,6] to create typtcal vehtcle data
m these categones
Data for the Barrter vehicle types were obtatned

I 2
3
Mobde Home
Van. Smale Axle
C)
258-318
383 - 404
I
I
duectly from SAE J972 [7] for movable barrrers and SAE
J850 [S] for fixed barrlers

3 ldenhfy The Requwed Parameters

The 3dttnenstonal capabdtty of new reconstruchon
and SlmulahOn models reqwed a reassessment of the
parameters to be documented for each category The required
TABLE 3-7 Dolly Class Categones parameters have been documented m prewous research (see
reference 191)
T h e required parameters w e r e dtwded tnto t h e
followtng groups
- General
* Dtmenstonal
* Inerhal Propexhes
l Sh f m e s
s P r o pmes

TABLE 3-8 Bamer Class Categories * Suspenston Properhes

l Brake System Proper&s

The parameters are shown m Table 5

4 Data Acquwtfon
By necessny, the new system mcluded two levels of The above data were obtamed for each of the vehtcles
hwarchy Type and Class Thts created a somewhat more hsted m Tables 4-l through 4-4 The data were obtamed from
compltcated s y s t e m t h a n t h e ortglnal Thts ad&ttonal several sources, mcludtng the followtng
complexity was necessary m order to properly dtshngutsh * Duect Measurement
between vehtcles, provtde reasonable data for the current l AAMA Vehtcle Sheets
vehtcle populahon, and prowde researchers the requwed
. Pubhshed Research
flexlbdtty
The source of each parameter was documented Once the data
were obtamed for each vehicle, the anthme~c averages and
%&arch m these categones IS tncomplete results are not
standard devtahons were computed for each category
av;lllable

4
TABLE 4-l Top Ten In Sales For Each Passenger Car Class

Class 1 Class 2 Class 3 Class 4 Class 5

WB=809-948in WB=948-1016 WS=iOl 6-1104 WB=1104-1175 WB>1175
Ford Escort Chevrolet Cavalrer Ford Taurus Buick LeSabre 1 Cadillac Fleetwood
Hyundal Excel Ford Tempo Pontiac Grand Am Chevrolet Capnce Buick Electra
Honda CRX Chevrolet Camaro Buick Regal Ford Crown Victona Merceds SEL
Chevrolet Chevette Ford Mustang Chevrolet Lumma Chrysler Fif&h Avenue 0
Chevrolet Spectrum Plymouth Reliant Ford ThunderbIrd Lmcoln Town Car
Toyota Tercel Honda CIVIC Toyota Camry JaguarXJ6
Dodge Colt Dodge Omnl Nissan Maxlma Lexus LS400
Ponbac Fiero Nissan Sentra Dodge Dynasty Mercedes S Class
Mazda 323 Toyota Corolla Honda Accord Acura Leoend
Ford Fesbva Dodge Shadow Plymouth Acclaim Infinity (145 I

TABLE 42 Top Pickup Sales. 19834992 TABLE 44 Top Mu/&purpose Sales, 1983-1992

Class 1 Class 2 Class 1 Class 2

WB~1140 WB> 1140 WBc1045 wB>1045
Chevrolet S-l 0 Chevrolet C/K Senes Chevrolet S-IO Blazer I Ford Bronco
Ford Ranger Ford F-Senes Jeep Cherokee Chevrolet Suburban
Dodge D-50 Dodge DMI Ford Bronco II Chevrolet K-5 Blazer
Toyota Jeep J-i 0 Toyota 4-Runner Ford Explorer
Nissan Toyota T-l 00 Geo Tracker Dodge Ramcharger
Jeep Commanche (^) Dodge Raider lsuzu Trooper
Mazda Suzulo Saman Toyota Land Cruiser
lsuzu Jeep Wrangler lsuzu Rodeo
Nissan Pathfinder 0

TABLE43 Top Van Sales, 1983-1992

RESULTS
WBc1154
Research and mpeChon of each of the vehxles 111
each category resulted m the data shown m Table 6
Dodge Caravan
Chevrolet AstroVan Ford Van
Ford AeroStar Dodge Van OBSERVATIONS
Chevrolet Lumlna The data presented III Tables 6-l through 6-4
0
Toyota Prevla represent StahShCd averages and standard devmhon for each
Mazda MPV parameter We the average value 1s generally the parameter
Volkswagen Vanagon
of greatest mterest, the standard dewhon should also be
scrutmzed for It represents an expected vanahon wtthm the
pop&&on For example, the average tiont nde rate for a class
2 passenger car IS 102 lb/m However, researchers can be 95
percent confident true value for other vekcles m tis class hes
w&m +I- 10 lb/m of the average Thts IfIfmmahOn IS
= These categones had fewer than 10 veh&s extremely valuable for cases when actual velucle data are not

5
avadable By executmg the reconstmctlon or smmlanon usmg TABLE 5 Parameters Documented For Each Vehsle
themmnnmn andmsxmmn w&m thts range, researchers may
assess the potentml vanahon due to the estunated parameters General
Detmled hre data are omttted from the genenc data Number Of Axles
The reason for thus omlsslon hes m the prachcal fact that any Dnve Axle(s)
detaded snnulahon reqmres a substantml amount of tue data, Drag, Aerodynamic Coefficwtt
mcladmg longttidmal fncnon (mu vs sbp), cornermg a n d Drag, Velocity Coeffinent
camber sbffness A separate document, called “Genenc Tire Drag, Constant
Data” IS reqmred Dlmenslons
CG to Front
Data for Truck. Trader and Dolly categones were
CO to Back
based on lmuted data, mostly from pubhshed hterature
CO to Sides
Addthonal data acqms~hon IS reqmred m these areas
CG Height
n&as
FUTURE WORK Total Mass
To contmue to be useful, the Genenc Vehicle data Sprung Roll lnerha
must be updated annually Sprung Pitch lnerba
Data for smgle-axle trucks, small hmhxs and dollys Sprung Yaw Inertia
must be extended to m&de add~ttonal vehmles Wfness (Front, Sides and Back)
A
The development of a compamon document, Genenc B
Tire Data, IS needed However, test data are lowed Au teshng KV
agenctes are encouraged to pubhsh known data m order to Suspension (Front and Rear)
extend the body of knowledge m tlus area
Type
Wheel R!de Rate
SUMMARY Wheel Damping Rate
CG to Suspension, xdlstance
1 The current research documented the need to update the. CG to Wheels, ydlstance
vebmle categones to prowde data sets for modem vebcles CG to Wheels, z-distance
Tire Comenng Stn%ess
2 New vehmle types were defme passenger car ptckup, Tire Radius
molh-purpose, van, tracks and truck aactors trmlers, dollys Inter-dual Spacing
and movable and fixed barnem
Inter-tandem Distance
CG to Roll Center
3 Updated parameters were provided for each vehicle type for
Lateral Spnng Spacing
use by the current generahon of 2-D and 3-D reconstruction
Auxlllary Roll Sbffness
and smmlatton models
Caster
4 The values presented m these table are dnecdy usable bv Camber
stat~shcal researchers However the researcher studymg an Toe-m
m&=dual case should consider the standard devlahon when Steer AXIS lnclmabon Angie
applymg these values Steenng Gear Rabo
Inter-tandem Dimension
Xrakes (Front and Rear)
REFERENCES
Master Cyltnder Pressure Rabo
1 Noga, T , Oppenbean, T , “CRASH3 User’s Gmde and Brake Torque Rabo, Front
Techmcal Manual” NHTSA D O T HS-805 7 3 2 U S Brake Torque Rabo, Rear
Department of Tmnsportahon, Washmgton, DC, 1982

2 WRAP U s e r ’ s M&z&, Engmeenng Dynamms

Corporanon, 1984 - 1996, Beaverton OR

6
Table 6-I Generic Data For Passenger Cars
Table 6-2 Generic Data For h&ups, Muifkpurpose and Vans

8
Table 6-3 Generic Data Far Trucks and Dollys
Table 64 Genenc Data For Tmlers and Earners

10
3 H?Z Operatms Monuol, Versron I O , F.ngmeemg
Dynaxmcs Corporatmn, Beaverton, OR, January, 1996

4 Market Data Book(1983-1992), Automotwe News, Detrort,

M.l

5 Factbook of theMechomca1 Propertres of the Components

for Smgle-Unrt and Artmdated Hemy Trucks, Umvemty of
hbclugau Tmnsportahon Research Jnshtute, DOT HS-807
125, December, 1986

6 MacAdam, C C , Fancher, P S , Ho, G T , Gxllespie, T D ,

“A Computerued Model for Smmlaimg the Brakmg and
Steermg Dynamxs of Trucks, Tractor-senutmders, Doubles
a n d Triple Combmahons, U s e r ’s Manual - P h a s e 4,”
UM-HSRI 80-58, Umverslty of Mzhqan, September, 1980

7 MmmgfigzdBarner Collrsron Tests, SAE Recommended

F’rachce J972, Swety of Automohve Engmeers, Warrendale,
PA, December, 1988

8 Frxed Rlgrd Barner Coll~s~on Tests, SAE Recommended

F’rachce J850, Society of Automotwe Eqmeers, Warrendale,
PA, November, 1988

9 Day, T D , “An Overnew of the HVE Vehcle Model,” SAE

Paper No 950308, February, 1995

11