Subject: Dash Evolutions
Topic: Magnesium Instrument Panel Structure
Objective: Understand how Honda and Acura magnesium instrument panel structures can affect dash entrapment evolutions
Task: Given a scenario of front seat occupants trapped due to a head-on collision, the rescue team shall develop primary and back-up techniques for dash rolling or dash jacking when a magnesium dash structure is involved.
The evolution of new and stronger structural steels continues with the 2016 model year Honda and Acura brand vehicles introducing some of the strongest steel yet. The 2016 Honda Pilot and the Acura MDX, for example, use ultra high-strength Usibor steel with a tensile strength rating of 1,500 Megapascal (Mpa). Conventional mild steels have Mpa ratings around 300, so you can see how extremely tough this new structural steel truly is.
What has also accompanied the use of the 1,500 Mpa steel is an entire instrument panel structure made of magnesium. Weighing in at only 13 pounds, this one-piece structure is completely hidden when the vehicle is finished. It is attached to the inside of each A-pillar and has only one dash tie-down. This support leg bolts on the left side of the center floorboard tunnel and has a sliding feature integrated into it.
Using new Honda Pilot and Acura MDX models, research was conducted to determine what effect the magnesium instrument panel structure will have during dash entrapment situations compared to the typical steel designs found in vehicles today. The evaluation revealed that the magnesium may actually fracture into pieces when stressed by direct contact from a rescue tool such as a ram.
When confronted with a magnesium structure, if a rescuer wants the magnesium out of the way, remember the brittle metal fractures easily when stressed with a ram or spreader. On the other hand, when rolling or jacking a dash away from a front-seat patient, the rescuer wants the magnesium to stay together and move as one large piece. The best chances of this happening occurred when the magnesium was not directly pushed or contacted by the rescue tools. When the A-pillar structure was being pushed or lifted as is normally done during a dash evolution, the magnesium instrument panel structure seemed to stay attached and move as one piece.
Also research showed that on the driver’s side, when a ram or spreader tool was able to directly contact the lower steering column attachment bracket and push or lift directly on it, the entire instrument panel tended to stay together and move away from a simulated trapped driver.
