GB 11551-2014/XG1-2026The protection of the occupants in the event of a frontal collision for motor vehicle (including National Amendment No. 1 of 2026) (English PDF)

Foreword

The whole of the technical content of this standard is mandatory.

This standard was drafted in accordance with the rules given in GB/T 1.1-2009.

This standard replaces GB 11551-2003 “The protection of the occupants in the event of a frontal collision for passenger car”. Compared with GB 11551-2003, the main differences are as follows:

— the title of the standard was changed to “The protection of the occupants in the event of a frontal collision for motor vehicle”; — the scope of application was revised, being extended from category M1 vehicles to category M1 vehicles, category N1 vehicles with a maximum design total mass not greater than 2 500 kg, and multipurpose goods vehicles (see Clause 1); — the definition of “multipurpose goods vehicle” was added (see 3.10);

— the airbag information marking, and the warning about the use of a rear-facing child restraint system on a seating position protected by an airbag, were added (see 4.1.4 and 4.1.5); — part of the technical requirements was added and revised (see 4.2); — changes and extensions of the vehicle type were added (see Clause 6); — the sled test procedure was added (see Annex E).

This standard was proposed by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of the People's Republic of China and is under the jurisdiction of the National Technical Committee of Auto Standardization (SAC/TC 114).

Organizations responsible for drafting: China Automotive Technology and Research Center; Hafei Motor Co., Ltd.; Beiqi Foton Motor Co., Ltd.

The previous editions of the standard replaced by this standard are: GB/T 11551-1989 and GB 11551-2003.

1 Scope

This standard specifies the terms and definitions, the requirements and the test methods for the protection of the occupants of the front outboard seating positions in the event of a frontal collision of a vehicle.

This standard applies to category M1 vehicles, to category N1 vehicles with a maximum design total mass not greater than 2 500 kg, and to multipurpose goods vehicles.

2 Normative references

The following documents are indispensable to the application of this document. For dated references, only the edition bearing the date applies; for undated references, the latest edition (including all amendments) applies.

GB/T 3730.1 Motor vehicles and trailers — Types — Terms and definitions · GB 14166 Safety-belts, restraint systems, child restraint systems and ISOFIX child restraint systems for occupants of power-driven vehicles · GB 14167 Safety belt anchorages, ISOFIX anchorages systems and ISOFIX top tether anchorages for vehicles · GB/T 15089 Classification of power-driven vehicles and trailers · GB/T 20913-2007 The protection of the occupants in the event of a frontal offset collision for passenger car · ISO 2575:2021 Road vehicles — Symbols for controls, indicators and tell-tales (added by National Amendment No. 1)

3 Terms and definitions

The terms and definitions given in GB/T 20913-2007 and the following apply to this document.

3.1 Protective system — the interior fittings and devices intended to restrain the occupants.

3.2 Type of protective system — protective devices that do not differ in the following essential respects: manufacturing process technology; dimensions; materials.

3.3 Angle of impact — the angle between the straight line perpendicular to the front face of the barrier and the longitudinal line of travel of the vehicle.

3.4 Barrier face — that part of the barrier surface to which the plywood is fitted.

3.5 Vehicle type — vehicles that do not differ in the following essential respects: the length and width of the vehicle where they adversely affect the results of the impact test; the structure, dimensions, shape and materials of the part of the vehicle forward of the transverse plane through the “R” point of the driver's seat where they adversely affect the results of the impact test; the external shape and the internal dimensions of the passenger compartment and the type of protective system, where they adversely affect the results of the impact test; the location of the engine (front, rear or centre) and its orientation (transverse or longitudinal); the unladen kerb mass where it adversely affects the results of the impact test; the optional equipment or fittings supplied by the manufacturer where they adversely affect the results of the impact test.

3.6 Passenger compartment — the space accommodating the occupants, bounded by the roof, the floor, the side walls, the doors, the glazing and the front bulkhead, the rear bulkhead or the plane supporting the rear seat backs.

3.7 R point — the reference point specified by the manufacturer for each seating position and related to the structure of the vehicle.

3.8 H point — the reference point of each seating position determined in accordance with the procedure described in Annex A.

3.9 Unladen kerb mass — the mass of the vehicle in running order, without driver, passengers and goods, but with the fuel tank filled to 90 % of its total capacity and with the on-board tools and the spare wheel, where these are supplied by the vehicle manufacturer as standard equipment.

3.10 Multipurpose goods vehicle — a goods vehicle whose design and construction are principally intended for the carriage of goods, having a long-nose body and cab structure (more than half of the engine length lying forward of the foremost point of the windscreen, or the centre of the steering wheel lying within the forward quarter of the total vehicle length), having an open cargo box, carrying not more than 5 occupants including the driver, and with a maximum design total mass not greater than 3 500 kg.

4 Requirements

4.1.1 The H point of each seating position shall be determined in accordance with the procedure specified in Annex A.

4.1.2 Where the protective system of a front seating position includes a safety belt, that belt shall comply with the requirements of GB 14166.

4.1.3 For a seating position at which a dummy is placed and which is equipped with a protective system including a safety belt, the belt anchorages shall comply with the requirements of GB 14167.

4.1.4 A seating position fitted with an airbag shall carry airbag information: on a vehicle fitted with a driver frontal airbag, the marking “AIRBAG” or equivalent information shall be placed within the circumference of the steering wheel and shall be durable and easily visible; on a vehicle fitted with a passenger airbag, the marking “AIRBAG” or equivalent information shall be placed durably and be easily visible, and the warning label shall carry the information given in 4.1.5.

4.1.5 A vehicle fitted with one or more frontal protection airbags shall carry information warning of the extreme hazard arising from the use of a rear-facing child restraint system on a seating position protected by a frontal airbag. The information shall at least comprise the layout and content of the warning label shown in Figure 1, with an overall size of at least 120 mm × 60 mm or an equivalent area; another form of label is permitted provided its wording matches the warning content of Figure 1. The warning label shall carry the warning content in Chinese. For a front passenger seating position protected by a frontal airbag, the warning label shall be durably kept on each face of the passenger-side sun visor so that at least one label is visible at all times whether the visor is open or closed; alternatively one label shall be affixed to the visible surface of the visor and another to the roof lining behind it. For other seating positions protected by a frontal airbag, the label shall be affixed directly in front of the seating position concerned and shall be clearly visible at all times to a user about to install a rear-facing child restraint system there. This requirement does not apply to a seating position on which the frontal airbag protection is automatically deactivated when a rear-facing child restraint system is installed. The vehicle user manual shall carry the following information in Chinese: “Do not use a rear-facing child restraint system on a seating position protected by an activated frontal airbag!”, together with a warning illustration.

4.2.1 Where a vehicle is tested in accordance with GB/T 20913-2007 and complies with 4.2 of GB/T 20913-2007, the vehicle is deemed to comply with the requirements of 4.2 of this standard. For category N1 vehicles and multipurpose goods vehicles, the provisions of items b), c) and e) of 4.2.2 do not apply.

4.2.2 For the dummies placed at the front outboard seating positions, the performance criteria determined in accordance with Annex B shall meet the following requirements: a) the head performance criterion (HPC) shall be not greater than 1 000, and the cumulative time during which the resultant head acceleration exceeds 80 g shall not exceed 3 ms, head rebound excluded; b) the neck injury criterion (NIC) shall not exceed the limit curves of Figure 2 and Figure 3; c) the neck bending moment about the Y axis in extension shall be not greater than 57 N·m; d) the thorax compression criterion (ThCC) shall be not greater than 75 mm; e) the viscous criterion of the thorax (V·C) shall be not greater than 1.0 m/s; f) the femur force criterion (FFC) shall not be above the performance criterion curve shown in Figure 4.

4.2.3 During the test, no door shall open.

4.2.4 During the test, the locking systems of the front doors shall not lock.

4.2.5 After the impact test it shall be possible, without the use of tools other than those necessary to support the mass of the dummy: to open at least one door per row of seats where a door exists and, where there is no door, to move the seats or fold the seat backs so that all the occupants can be evacuated, this requirement applying only to vehicles with a hard-top structure; to release the dummy from the restraint system, a locked release device opening under a force not exceeding 60 N applied to it; and to remove the dummy intact from the vehicle without adjusting the seats.

4.2.6 During the impact, no leakage shall occur from the fuel feed system.

4.2.7 After the impact test, if there is continuous leakage of liquid from the fuel feed system, the average leak rate over the first 5 min after the impact shall not exceed 30 g/min. Where liquid from the fuel feed system mixes with liquid from other systems and the several liquids cannot readily be separated and identified, all the liquid collected shall be taken into account when assessing the continuous leakage.

5 Test methods

5.1.1 Test site — the test area shall be large enough to accommodate the run-up track, the barrier and the technical installations necessary for the test. At least the last 5 m of the track before the barrier shall be horizontal, flat and smooth.

5.1.2 Barrier — the barrier shall be made of reinforced concrete, not less than 3 m wide at the front and not less than 1.5 m high. Its thickness shall be such that its mass is not less than 7 × 10⁴ kg. The front face shall be vertical, its normal forming an angle of 0° with the direction of straight-line travel of the vehicle, and it shall be covered with plywood boards 20 mm ± 1 mm thick and in good condition (see Figure 5). Where necessary, additional anchoring devices shall be used to fix the barrier to the ground so as to limit its displacement.

5.1.3 Positioning of the barrier — the barrier shall be so oriented that the angle of impact is 0°.

5.1.4 Preparation of the vehicle — the steering wheel, where adjustable, shall be set to the position specified by the manufacturer or, failing that, to the mid-point of its range of adjustment, and at the end of the acceleration phase it shall be free and in the position corresponding to straight-line travel; the movable glazing shall be closed; the gear lever shall be in neutral; the pedals shall be in their normal position and, if adjustable, at mid-travel unless the manufacturer specifies otherwise; the doors shall be closed but not locked; a movable or removable roof shall be in place and closed; the sun visors shall be stowed; the interior rear-view mirror shall be in its normal position of use; movable armrests shall be lowered; height-adjustable head restraints shall be at their highest position.

5.1.4.3.11 Seats — for longitudinally adjustable front seats, the H point determined in accordance with Annex A shall be at the mid-position of travel, or at the locking position nearest to it, and at the height position specified by the manufacturer where height is separately adjustable; where the dummy cannot be correctly placed and the design H point (x₁, z₁) of the driver seat or the front passenger seat satisfies formula (1), that is X < (1 670 − Z) / 1.94, the seat may be adjusted until the dummy can be correctly placed. The seat back, where adjustable, shall be set so that the torso angle of the dummy is as close as possible to the normal angle of use specified by the manufacturer or, failing that, to 25° rearward from the vertical. Rear seats and rear bench seats, where adjustable, shall be in their rearmost position.

5.2.1 Dummies — in accordance with Annex C, a dummy meeting the requirements shall be placed on each front outboard seat. The dummy shall meet the technical requirements for the 50 % Hybrid III dummy and the corresponding adjustment requirements, and shall be equipped with a measuring system meeting the technical requirements of Annex D so that the data necessary to determine the performance criteria are recorded.

5.2.2 The restraint system fitted by the manufacturer shall be used during the test.

5.3 Propulsion of the vehicle — the vehicle shall not be propelled by its own power; at the moment of impact the vehicle shall no longer be subject to the action of any additional steering or propelling device; the path of the vehicle to the barrier shall not deviate laterally from the theoretical trajectory by more than 150 mm in either direction.

5.4 Test speed — at the moment of impact the speed of the vehicle shall be 50 km/h with a tolerance of 0 to −2 km/h. If the test is carried out at a higher impact speed and the vehicle meets the requirements, the test is deemed satisfactory.

5.5 Measurements on the front-seat dummies — all measurements necessary to determine the performance criteria shall be made with measuring systems meeting the requirements of Annex D. The parameters shall be recorded on independent data channels having the following channel frequency classes (CFC): head, the acceleration at the centre of gravity calculated from its three-dimensional components, CFC 1 000; neck, axial tension and fore-and-aft shear at the head-neck junction, CFC 1 000, and bending moment about the Y axis at the head-neck junction, CFC 600; thorax, chest deformation, CFC 180; femur, axial compression force, CFC 600.

5.6 Measurements on the vehicle — for the simplified test specified in Annex E, the deceleration time history of the body structure shall be determined from the readings of a longitudinal accelerometer at the bottom of the left-hand “B” pillar of the vehicle, on a data channel meeting the requirements of Annex D with CFC 180; the velocity-time curve used in the simplified test procedure of Annex E shall be obtained from that accelerometer.

6 Changes and extensions of the vehicle type

Any change affecting the structure, the number of seats, the interior trim or fittings, or the position of the vehicle controls or of mechanical parts that may influence the energy-absorbing capacity of the front of the vehicle, shall be notified to the competent department for vehicles. The competent department shall then adopt one of the following courses: a) it considers that the changes made have no appreciable adverse effect and that the vehicle still meets the requirements of this standard in any case; b) according to the nature of the change, it requires the inspection body responsible for the tests to carry out one of the following tests: 1) where the change affects the basic structural form of the vehicle and/or the vehicle mass varies by more than 8 %, and the inspection body judges that it has an appreciable effect on the test results, the tests specified in Clause 5 shall be repeated; 2) where the change concerns only the interior fittings, the mass varies by not more than 8 % and the number of front seating positions originally provided in the vehicle is unchanged, the simplified test specified in Annex E and/or the partial tests determined by the inspection body for the change made shall be carried out.

7 Transitional requirements for the implementation of the standard

7.1 For newly type-approved vehicle models, this standard shall be applied from 1 year after the date of issue of the standard; for category N1 vehicles and multipurpose goods vehicles, it shall be applied from 2 years after the date of issue of the standard.

7.2 For vehicle models already in production, this standard shall be applied from 3 years after the date of issue of the standard.

National Amendment No. 1 to GB 11551-2014

This amendment was approved by the State Administration for Market Regulation (Standardization Administration of China) on 28 January 2026 and takes effect on 1 July 2027.

I. Clause 2 is supplemented by “ISO 2575:2021 Road vehicles — Symbols for controls, indicators and tell-tales”.

II. The first item of 4.1.5 and Figure 1 are revised to read: the information shall at least comprise the layout and content of the warning label shown in Figure 1 and shall meet the following requirements; the label may also take another form provided its wording matches the warning content of Figure 1. The overall size shall be at least 120 mm × 60 mm or an equivalent area. The content shall be accurate and the layout may differ from Figure 1. The label shall not carry information of any other type unless that information is placed within a clearly marked rectangle outside the overall dimensions described above; part numbers, barcodes or similar identification marks may also be placed on the label but shall not exceed 8 mm × 35 mm or an equivalent area. The appearance of the pictograms shall not be modified, except for the rightmost graphic of Figure 1 a) — the hand with a pointing index finger and, to its right, an open booklet bearing the letter “i” — provided it remains clearly identifiable; the shapes and orientations of Figure 1 b) and Figure 1 c) shall not deviate in any way, minor differences in line width, label printing and related processing being permitted. The pictogram of Figure 1 b) shall conform to Q.01 of ISO 2575:2021 and its outer diameter shall be at least 38 mm; the pictogram of Figure 1 c) shall be 40 mm wide and 28 mm high, or proportionally larger.

III. A new 4.2.8 is added: after the impact test, the battery supplying the low-voltage auxiliary system shall remain in its mounting position with its cables connected and supplying power; the chemical substances inside it shall not leak into the passenger compartment; and within 30 min after the test there shall be no short circuit, no continued emission of smoke and no fire. Where the vehicle is tested in accordance with GB/T 20913-2007, this requirement shall also be met after that test.

IV. Implementation requirements: for newly type-approved vehicle models, this amendment applies from the date on which it takes effect; vehicle models already type-approved are granted a transition period until production ceases.