[EN] Driving a private vehicle represents nowadays one of the most viable ways by which disabled drivers can maintain their mobility and transport conditions. To do so it is necessary to adapt a vehicle to the user's residual capabilities. Nevertheless the technical aids installed in the vehicles must fulfill the same safety requirements as standard vehicles. This paper shows the results of a research project held at the Automobile Laboratory of the Technical University of Valencia (Spain), the main objective being to generate basic design criteria for improving the passive safety behaviour of the adapted vehicle under different impact conditions.

The research project whose partial results are shown in this paper was developed by the Automobile Laboratory of the Technical University of Valencia (Spain), under the auspices of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (Ref. TRA2005-08649) during the years 2006–2008.