Side Impact Protection: Side Impact Dummy

This document makes two amendments to the specifications for the side impact test dummy and the procedure in NHTSA's side impact protection standard for positioning the dummy in a vehicle for compliance testing purposes. The first amendment adds plastic spacers to the dummy's lumbar spine to prevent a metal cable within the spine from contacting other metal parts in the spine (``snapping''). Some manufacturers believe that such contact can generate large spikes in the data obtained from the dummy. The second amendment specifies a procedure during the positioning of the dummy to fully extend the damper piston in the dummy's ribcage prior to the side impact test. These changes are intended to reduce to the extent possible any potential problems with the consistency of the data obtained from the dummy in a side impact crash test.