ABSTRACT
The terms “impact,” “collision,” and “crash” all refer to a dynamic event that happens during a very short (but finite) time frame, compared to most other events in the everyday usage of a vehicle or other object. Often the result of a crash is permanent damage to the vehicle, and perhaps injury to an occupant; thus it is something to be avoided, or at least mitigated. So why does one perform a crash test, what does one learn from it, and how does one go about gathering information? Because we want to know exactly what happened during the crash, why someone got a particular injury, or what we can do to make the vehicle a little more protective when the next crash like it occurs, as surely it will.
