side impactn.
/ˈsʌɪd ˌɪmpakt/, U.S. /ˈsaɪd ˌɪmˌpæk(t)/ Impact from the side; an instance of this. Later chiefly: spec. a collision in which one motor vehicle hits the side of another.
ΚΠ
1863 U.S. Patent 38,797 2/2 The plunger [in a gun chamber] may..perform its function even before reaching the sides of its chamber, in case of side impact.
1897 Street Railway Jrnl. May 304/2 The length of fish plates..is not sufficient to give resistance in case of unusually violent side impact at the rail end.
1908 Automotor Jrnl. 18 July 966/1 Twisting from the forward impact to a side impact, he smashed against the change-speed-lever and gate.
1918 Professional Mem. (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers) 10 592 Investigation was made as to what thickness of wall would be needed to support by dead weight (or size) the side impact of a slow-moving 3,000-ton barge.
1962 R. A. Wolf in Impact Acceleration Stress 52 Some side impacts..cause so much buckling and deformation of the frame..that the best locks cannot hold.
1973 Times 22 Mar. 35/3 Head-on collisions are rarer than side impacts.
1988 Courier-Mail (Brisbane) (Nexis) 27 June Even the door armrests have collapsible supports to absorb side impact.
2004 New Yorker 14 June 13 (advt.) The instrument panel foundation performs well in front and side impacts.
Compounds
C1. General attributive, as side-impact collision, side-impact injury, side-impact protection, etc.
ΚΠ
1902 Proc. U.S. Naval Inst. 28 138 The plungers of 7-inch and 12-inch mortar fuzes are arranged for side impact action.
1914 Jrnl. Amer. Soc. Mech. Engineers 36 56/1 Depth of the member is desirable to resist bending due to shifting of load or side impact blow.
1962 R. A. Wolf in Impact Acceleration Stress 50 The number of passengers for front-impact accidents is 12,252, while those for side-impact accidents are 3,345.
1967 Harvard Law Rev. 80 688 A frame which would not adequately protect occupants during a side-impact collision.
1972 Guardian 27 Oct. 11 (advt.) The new Volvos have doors reinforced with tubular steel for side impact protection.
1989 Aide Mag. Dec. 8/2 In side-impact crashes or if the vehicle overturns, safety belts provide protection an air bag cannot.
2000 Future of Children 10 34/1 The success of this new standard [of vehicle doors] has not yet been evaluated with regard to side-impact injuries.
C2. attributive. Designating or relating to measures incorporated into the design of a vehicle which are intended to protect occupants against the effects of a collision from the side, as side-impact airbag, side-impact beam, side-impact measures, side-impact requirement, etc.
ΚΠ
1968 Corpus Christi (Texas) Times 6 May 12 a/1 This side impact bar will increase the passengers' safety by preventing the impacting car from penetrating the impacted car.
1980 Washington Post (Nexis) 31 Dec. a1 The only other safety features that added more than $10 to the wholesale cost of cars..are crash-resistant bumpers, $54; three-point seatbelts and retractors, $37, and side impact beams, $24.
1991 Atlantic Nov. 131/2 (advt.) The federal government's new dynamic side-impact standard will require all new cars to meet just such a standard by 1997 at the latest.
1998 Transport News Dec. 61/3 The air skirts themselves..are sufficiently strong to meet the side impact requirements.
2010 B. Aehlert Paramedic Pract. Today II. xliii. 277/1 Three types of side-impact airbags are available.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2016; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
n.1863