System and method for determining post-collision vehicular velocity changes

• US 7,197,444 B2
• Filed: 11/22/2004
• Issued: 03/27/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 02/04/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: CCC Information Services, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Injury Sciences, LLC (CCC Information Services Group Incorporated)
• Inventors: Smith, Darrin A., Kidd, Scott D., Pancratz, David J., Bomar, John B. Jr.
• Primary Examiner(s): FREJD, RUSSELL WARREN
• Application Number:
  US10/996,130
• Publication Number:
  US 20050125127A1
• Time in Patent Office: 855 Days
• Field of Search: 703/1, 703/2, 703/6, 703/7, 703/8, 700/303, 705/4, 702/33, 702/142, 702/150, 345/339, 345/340, 345/349
• US Class Current: 703/8
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 99/00 Subject matter not provided for in other groups of this subclass

Abstract

A system and method that utilizes information relating to vehicle damage information including damaged vehicle area information, crush depth of the damaged areas information, and vehicle component-by-component damage information to estimate the relative velocities of vehicles involved in a collision. The change in velocity is estimated using a plurality of methods, and a determination is made as to which method provided a result that is likely to be more accurate, based on the damage information, and the types of vehicles involved. The results from each method may also be weighted and combined to provide a multi-method estimate of the closing velocity. The methods include using crash test data from one or more sources, estimating closing velocity based on the principals of conservation of momentum, and estimating closing velocity based on deformation energy resulting from the collision.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for estimating impact severity from a repair estimate for a vehicle involved in a collision, the method comprising:

acquiring information regarding at least one damaged component of the vehicle, said information comprising repair/replace estimate information;

obtaining benchmark data related to the vehicle based at least in part on the repair/replace estimate information; and

estimating the impact severity using the benchmark data and outputting the estimate of impact severity to an end user of the computer.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining whether to use the benchmark data for estimating the impact severity based on where the at least one damaged component is located.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising comparing characteristics of the vehicle to characteristics of vehicles for which benchmark data is available, and determining whether benchmark data for a particular vehicle is applicable to the vehicle.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising estimating the impact severity according to a plurality of methods to obtain a plurality of estimates.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising determining a final estimate based on at least one of the plurality of estimates.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining a distribution of impact severity estimates by varying parameters used to determine the impact severity and estimating statistical error in the distribution of impact severity estimates.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising varying the parameters according to a stochastic simulation.

8. The method of claim 4, further comprising weighting the plurality of estimates and combining the weighted estimates to determine a final estimate for the impact severity.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising using a statistical method for weighting the results of each estimation method.

10. A computer program product encoded in computer readable media, the computer program product comprising:

first instructions, executable by a processor, for receiving repair/replace estimate information regarding one or more damaged vehicle components for at least one vehicle involved in an accident;

second instructions, executable by the processor, for estimating impact severity of the at least one vehicle based at least in part on the repair/replace estimate information; and

third instructions, executable by the processor, for outputting the impact severity estimate from a computer executing the computer program product.

11. A computer-implemented method for evaluating impact severity of a vehicle involved in a collision, the method comprising:

acquiring information regarding at least one damaged component of the vehicle;

assigning a damage rating to the vehicle based at least in part on the acquired information;

determining a first measure of impact severity based at least partially on the damage rating;

determining another measure of impact severity independently of the damage rating; and

determining a final impact severity for the vehicle based on an analysis of the first measure and the another measure, and outputting the final impact severity to a user of the computer.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, wherein the final impact severity is determined as a weighted combination of the first measure and the another measure.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, wherein the weighted combination is based upon a correlation between benchmark data and the vehicle.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, further comprising acquiring the information from a repair estimate for the vehicle.

15. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

receiving damage information for a subject vehicle involved in an accident;

comparing the damage information to benchmark information to determine compliance with a predetermined rule; and

estimating an impact severity of the subject vehicle using the benchmark information if the comparing indicates compliance with the predetermined rule, and outputting the impact severity estimate to a user of the computer.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, further comprising performing the estimating iteratively to obtain a population of the impact severity.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein the damage information comprises a plurality of preselected levels corresponding to severity of component damage.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 17, wherein the severity of component damage is determined with reference to repair/replace estimate information.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein the predetermined rule comprises whether the benchmark information is greater than the damage information.

20. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein the benchmark information relates to a crash test vehicle comparable with the subject vehicle.

21. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein the benchmark information is derived from at least one of IIHS or CR crash test data.

22. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, further comprising evaluating injury potential for an occupant of the subject vehicle based on the impact severity.

23. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, further comprising comparing the damage information to the benchmark information, wherein the benchmark information comprises a plurality of benchmark ratings.

24. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, further comprising receiving the damage information from a repair estimate for the subject vehicle.

25. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

receiving a damage rating for a subject vehicle involved in an accident;

comparing the damage rating to a plurality of reference sets to determine compliance with at least one predetermined rule, the reference sets being associated with one or more reference vehicles comparable with the subject vehicle; and

estimating an impact severity of the subject vehicle using data from at least one of the reference vehicles if the comparing indicates compliance with the at least one predetermined rule, and outputting the impact severity estimate to a user of the computer.

26. The computer-implemented method of claim 25, wherein the at least one predetermined rule comprises a best fit between the plurality of reference sets and the damage rating.

27. The computer-implemented method of claim 25, further comprising evaluating injury potential for an occupant of the subject vehicle based on the impact severity.