The 2025 FIA World Rally-Raid Championship features a significant leap forward in crew safety following the first implementation of the first Seat Attenuator in the New Dacia Sandriders developed in accordance with FIA safety regulations.
The cross-country rally discipline is undoubtedly one of the most spectacular and extreme forms of motor sport, and one that presents unique challenges when designing the safety systems for competitors. The FIA’s active pursuit of improving safety in motor sport means that it is constantly reviewing and analysing data from its competitions, and the research and development of the seat attenuator device is a result of this ongoing mission.
The safety regulation, which has been developed by the FIA with funding support from the FIA Foundation, is designed to protect drivers and codrivers from spinal compression injuries which may be caused by a heavy landing from a jump by suspending the seats inside the car with a specialised damper that absorbs the energy from an impact.
Using real-world data from incidents involving a heavy landing, which are recorded in the FIA’s World Accident Database, experts defined a representative ‘severe crash pulse’ as a target for the project to mitigate against – a 40g peak crash pulse orientated at an angle of 58 degrees from the horizontal axis.
This crash pulse was then used in simulations to define the best force displacement characteristics for the seats installed in the competition cars, so that a dampening mechanism could then be developed and connected to the seats.
Following refinement through simulations, an optimal design for the impact dampener was manufactured and underwent laboratory testing that confirmed benefits of around a 50 per cent reduction in the forces transferred from the car to the occupants during this kind of impact.
From the laboratory to the open stages, the next step in the project saw the FIA supporting Prodrive to develop a suspended seat, connected to the roll cage via the specified damper. This was first implemented on the 2024 Rallye du Maroc, and in monitoring the data throughout the real-world testing phase, the device was found to be operating as expected and delivering significant safety benefits.
From research to regulation, the FIA Seat Attenuator now sits in the Dacia Sandriders and will sit in new T1+ vehicles in the World Rally-Raid Championship as from 2027, and is the latest example of the FIA’s ongoing commitment to improving safety in motor sport.
FIA Chief Technical and Safety Officer, Xavier Mestelan Pinon, said: “The seat attenuator project is something we are very proud of. It is a really significant step in terms of safety in the W2RC, where the cars and crews compete in some of the most extreme conditions in the world. To provide such a big improvement in protection against possible spinal injuries is something very important for the competitors, and it is projects such as this that the FIA, with the fantastic support of the FIA Foundation, will keep investing in across all our championships.
FIA Head of Research and Vehicle Safety, Marco Petrilli, said: “This has been a really fantastic project to bring to the W2RC. We are driven by the data, and we identified this as an area that we could bring some significant benefits for the crews. Using the FIA World Accident Database we could define what a typical ‘high-impact’ landing that can cause a spinal injury looks like, and use that information to set our targets for the seat attenuator, and then set requirements for a device according to our extensive simulations. It’s a great example of how the FIA is always working to improve safety.”
FIA Senior Research Engineer – CAE Manager, Paolo Panichelli, said: “The success of this project has been fundamentally supported by the use of numerical simulation with virtual test dummies, to define the optimal characteristics of the attenuation system. It is a perfect example of how utilizing this tool allows for the development of a specific product without the need for extensive experimental campaigns.”
FIA World Rally-Raid Championship
Rally-RaidSafetyCross-Country
SEASON 2025SafetyCross-Country1SafetyFIA World Rally-Raid ChampionshipCross-CountrySEASON 2025Rally-RaidSafetyCross-Country00Monday, March 24, 2025 – 3:52pmMonday, March 24, 2025 – 3:52pm
Source : Fia
