Abstract
Over the last 20 years considerable progress has been made in vehicle safety design and, as a result, greater emphasis is now being put on injury reduction for both vehicle occupants and pedestrians. To help the engineer, a range of tools and techniques has evolved ranging from computer modelling through to sophisticated facilities for full scale crash testing capable of recreating complex crash scenarios. Hybrid test and development techniques combined with a continuous and iterative research philosophy whereby research programmes are run in parallel with real vehicle development programmes is one effective method of tackling the problem. This paper uses some current examples of work in this field to show the value of this approach.