A system and method that utilizes information relating to vehicle damage information
including damaged vehicle area information, crush depth of the damaged areas information,
and vehicle component-by-component damage information to estimate the relative
velocities of vehicles involved in a collision. The change in velocity is estimated
using a plurality of methods, and a determination is made as to which method provided
a result that is likely to be more accurate, based on the damage information, and
the types of vehicles involved. The results from each method may also be weighted
and combined to provide a multi-method estimate of the closing velocity. The methods
include using crash test data from one or more sources, estimating closing velocity
based on the principals of conservation of momentum, and estimating closing velocity
based on deformation energy resulting from the collision.
