Develop L/R Oblique Restraint Countermeasures to Reduce Risk of Injury to Occupants

Action Code: S Classification Code: B Solicitation: DTNH2215RQ-00225 Agency/Office: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Location: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration HQ NAICS Code: 541712, Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences, 500 Employees. Point of Contract: Vincent Lynch, Contracting Officer, ph(202) 366-9568 Title: Develop L/R Oblique Restraint Countermeasures to Reduce Risk of Injury to Occupants Description(s): The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is issuing this Sources Sought Notice to identify potential qualified Small Business concerns that may be interested in and capable of performing the work described herein to demonstrate an occupant restraint system, for both the driver and front right passenger that can provide improved safety performance for the 50th percentile male THOR dummy in both left and right oblique crashes. On a cost share cost reimbursement basis NHTSA is in search of a contractor to identify, design, optimize, fabricate, and demonstrate a physical prototype occupant protection system for both the driver and passenger seating positions in right and left oblique conditions to reduce risk of injury to occupants in oblique crashes. The demonstration does not need to consider intrusion of the occupant compartment, but the crash pulses and THOR kinematics and injury assessment values should be similar to the crash response of a small or midsize vehicle tested in NHTSA Oblique Test Procedure. F A demonstration is required to show the baseline small or midsize vehicle has 5 stars in NCAP full frontal test and a "Good" rating in IIHS moderate overlap. It is also required that the baseline vehicle meet FMVSS No. 208 unbelted, angled barrier test and FMVSS No. 208 out-of-position tests for the 5 th on the driver side and the 6 year old on the right front passenger side requirements. NHTSA welcomes all qualified Small Business concerns, and any other firms with the appropriate NAICS Code and past experience to submit their Corporate Capability Statements that demonstrate their ability to successfully accomplish the goals of the proposed types of projects as listed below. NHTSA does not intend to award a contract on the basis of responses to this notice or otherwise pay for the preparation of any information submitted. Acknowledgement of receipt of responses will not be made; and no formal evaluation of the information received will be conducted by NHTSA. NHTSA may; however later on issue a Request for Proposals (RFP). However, should such a requirement fail to materialize, no basis for claims against NHTSA shall arise as a result of a response to this notice. BACKGROUND: NHTSA has developed a controlled crash test procedure to reproduce vehicle damage and occupant kinematics through crash dummy injury measures that reflect these field-investigated crashes. The resulting test procedure involves a high speed oblique moving deformable barrier (OMDB) impacting a stationary vehicle with a 35 percent overlap and an angle of 15 degrees from collinear, in both left- and right-side impacts. The resulting test procedure matches the struck vehicle damage, occupant contact points with the vehicle interior, and dummy injury measures consistent with those from observed occupant injuries. In order to match the field events, the test utilizes the most recent version of the THOR dummy, referred to as the THOR Mod Kit build level. The THOR dummy has advanced instrumentation and improved flexibility to better represent occupant kinematics in oblique crashes. To date NHTSA has conducted over 30 full vehicle tests in this crash mode, and the test procedure has demonstrated a range of occupant safety performance for the driver and front right passenger, which is consistent with real-world results. These tests have been conducted for both left- and right-side offset oblique OMDB to vehicle crash configurations. The oblique offset test procedure has demonstrated different occupant restraint interaction from what is commonly observed in the current regulatory and consumer information tests. The oblique angle of the crash causes the occupant to engage the air bags at an angle, and far-side occupants (those opposite to the vehicle side of impact) tend to roll out of the shoulder belt. NHTSA tests have shown a high incidence of head and chest injury potential. Additional injury to the acetabulum and lower extremities have also been observed but at a lower frequency of occurrence / severity. The injury measures that have been considered to-date include head injury criteria (HIC), brain injury criteria (BrIC), neck injury, multipoint chest displacement, acetabulum force, femur force, and other lower extremity measures. High injury measures have been recorded for THOR dummies in both the driver and passenger positions when subject to both left and right oblique offset crashes. The oblique occupant kinematics require reevaluation of the restraint systems to enhance occupant safety for this crash mode. Some of the occupant injury potential can be attributed to occupant compartment intrusion during these oblique crashes. However, at this time, vehicle front end and cabin structures are being redesigned for improved structural performance in the small overlap test being conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). It is difficult to forecast how much occupant compartment intrusion will be reduced, so it is desired to evaluate the restraint performance in the absence of occupant compartment intrusion. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this contract is to demonstrate an occupant restraint system, for both the driver and front right passenger that can provide improved safety performance for the 50th percentile male THOR dummy in both left and right oblique crashes. Capabilities: The corporate capability statement must address the capabilities necessary to accomplish the scope outlined above as well as the additional tasks and characteristics given below: •· Identify, design, optimize, fabricate, and demonstrate a physical prototype occupant protection system for both the driver and passenger seating positions in right and left oblique conditions to reduce risk of injury to occupants in oblique crashes. The demonstration does not need to consider intrusion of the occupant compartment, but the crash pulses and THOR kinematics and injury assessment values should be similar to the crash response of a small or midsize vehicle tested in NHTSA Oblique Test Procedure. F A demonstration is required to show the baseline small or midsize vehicle has 5 stars in NCAP full frontal test and a "Good" rating in IIHS moderate overlap. It is also required that the baseline vehicle meet FMVSS No. 208 unbelted, angled barrier test and FMVSS No. 208 out-of-position tests for the 5 th on the driver side and the 6 year old on the right front passenger side requirements. This task is not expected to conduct full scale vehicle tests, but it is required that the demonstration replicate the occupant compartment, THOR injury values and restraints environment of a production vehicle in a controlled laboratory procedure. The baseline vehicle shall have a BRIC value greater than 1 and resultant chest displacement of 47 mm. Than baseline sled testing should be conducted for left and right oblique impacts to establish the occupant kinematics and injury for existing baseline restraints when tested in NHTSA's Oblique test procedure. The baseline testing should be compared to oblique vehicle crash test results using an objective rating methodology. •· The baseline testing should be used to develop and validate simulation models for the left and right oblique offset crash environments. The models should be compared to the occupant and restraint performance in the baseline tests using the previously identified objective rating method. •· Using the validated simulation results, the Contractor shall propose a restraint design system for the driver and passenger that are expected to meet the performance objectives developed from the baseline testing. Once the restraint approach is approved by the NHTSA COR, the Contractor may begin simulation, optimization, and physical component testing as required to finalize the proposed design. •· Once the final design has been approved, the Contractor shall fabricate the optimized restraint system and conduct demonstration testing in both the left and right oblique offset crash environments. This sled testing shall be conducted consistent to the baseline testing and will also be quantitatively compared to the simulated response. •· It is desired to establish performance objectives for enhanced occupant restraint systems from the baseline test results. These performance objectives should emphasize the occupant injury risk reduction from use of the optimized restraint system design over baseline but may disregard lower extremity injuries since occupant compartment intrusion will not be evaluated in this task. •· Provide the difference in manufacturing and material costs from the baseline system to the optimized systems. The weight difference between the systems should also be provided. Format of Corporate Capabilities Statement: Any interested qualified small business firms should submit their Corporate Capability Statement, which demonstrates the firm's ability and past experience in no more than 10 pages to perform the key requirements described above to the identified NHTSA point of contact listed herein. Any proprietary information should be marked as such. All respondents are asked to certify the type and size of their business organization is in-line with the requirements of this Sources Sought Notice, and must be received no later than 4 calendar days from the date of publication of this notice.