sent on august 11, 2023

There’s a special place on the internet where you can query thousands of crashes to help you understand CDR reports and potential anomalies, and that’s what this week’s installment is about.

NHTSA’s Crash Investigation Sampling System [CISS]

According to the CISS brochure, “The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has collected crash data since the early 1970s to support its mission to reduce motor vehicle crashes, injuries, and deaths on our Nation’s highways. The Crash Investigation Sampling System (CISS) builds on the retired, long running National Automotive Sampling System Crashworthiness Data System (NASS CDS). CISS collects detailed crash data to help scientists and engineers analyze motor vehicle crashes and injuries.”

Since 2016, nearly 15,000 crashes have been added to the CISS including over 26,000 CDR reports (before CISS, there was NASS). The database of crashes can be found here. Even better, we can download the native CDRx files when available to check out all the details. This is especially helpful when you notice something wonky in a case-related CDR report. For instance, does the steering or delta-v polarity seem to be reversed? Search the CISS for vehicles in that model year range to see if there’s other data to support that theory. Trying to figure out what kind of damage a 10 mph delta-v underride generates? You might get help there too.

The CDR reports are a bit buried, but the image below shows how to get to them (the download link is highlighted in yellow). In short, click on the vehicle of interest, then expand Exterior Vehicle, then EDR, then click Summary. At that point, you’ll see a screen similar to the one below and you can just click on the link to download the file.