Concerns around the externalities resulting from transport are leading to a reassessment of our mobility options. By reference to policy priorities, it is concluded that there will be an emerging demand for smaller and lighter vehicles. Within Europe these will be of the L6e and L7e category. However, the crash safety of these vehicles presents an impediment to their broader commercialisation, acceptance, and further development. The authors identify a number of concerns associated with the approaches to crash safety assessment being discussed and promoted by stakeholders. These concerns include: cascading down M1 category test requirements to the L6e and L7e category would be inefficient as there is little inclination at present to develop, manufacture and market small and lightweight M1 category vehicles; subjecting the L6e and L7e category vehicles to the same crash test and test performance requirements as an M1 category passenger car would not result in comparable performance in single vehicle or vehicle-to-vehicle collisions; and vehicle use cases will differ leading to different accident patterns and questioning the efficacy of the existing M1 category test approach for these smaller and lighter vehicles. To improve the safety of lightweight vehicles would require an innovative test and assessment framework that provides benefits to consumers, producers and society. As a contribution to this framework, an approach is proposed for the assessment of crashworthiness that: responds to the immediate concerns around the safety performance in frontal collisions; aligns with the emerging capabilities of the L-category industry; and provides the consumer with a new mobility option that responds positively to key externalities associated with our use and consumption of transport. The proposed assessment is discussed and is shown to provide equivalent compartment strength to a mid-sized M1 category passenger car – thereby addressing a key concern about compartment integrity in collisions with larger and heavier vehicles.

由于运输而引起的外部性问题导致人们对我们的出行选择进行了重新评估。通过参考政策重点，可以得出结论，对更小，更轻的车辆将有新的需求。在欧洲，它们将属于L6e和L7e类。然而，这些车辆的碰撞安全性阻碍了它们更广泛的商业化，接受和进一步发展。作者确定了与利益相关方正在讨论和促进的碰撞安全评估方法相关的许多问题。这些问题包括：将M1类测试要求降级到L6e和L7e类将是低效率的，因为目前很少有开发，制造和销售小型轻量M​​1类车辆的意愿。使L6e和L7e类车辆经受与M1类乘用车相同的碰撞测试和测试性能要求，不会在单车或车与车碰撞中产生可比的性能；车辆使用案例会有所不同，从而导致不同的事故模式，并质疑现有的M1类测试方法对这些较小和较轻的车辆的功效。为了提高轻型车辆的安全性，将需要一个创新的测试和评估框架，为消费者，生产者和社会带来利益。作为对该框架的贡献，提出了一种评估耐撞性的方法，该方法：应对与正面碰撞中的安全性能有关的紧迫问题；与L类行业的新兴能力保持一致；并为消费者提供了一种新的出行方式，可以积极响应与我们使用和消费交通工具相关的关键外部因素。讨论了拟议的评估，并证明了该评估可提供与中型M1类乘用车相同的车厢强度，从而解决了与较大和较重车辆碰撞时车厢完整性的关键问题。