MASH Testing

MASH Testing

Barrier Testing
Roadside Safety
State of the Art Facility
Efficient Testing
Test Experts
Turn Key Solution
MASH Barrier Testing

Roadside Safety and Highway Safety Device Testing

The Manual for Assessing Safety Hardware (MASH) represent uniform guidelines for conducting full-scale crash tests for permanent and temporary highway safety features along with evaluation criteria.

Products addressed in MASH include longitudinal barriers, guardrail transitions, end terminals, crash cushions, breakaway/yielding supports, truck mounted attenuators and work zone traffic control devices, and more.

MASH certification testing applies to permanent installations as well as temporary plastic barriers and barricades.

Calspan can help you navigate the MASH manual to understand what your system requires to be certified and approved by FHWA.

The crash performance is judged on three main principles:

  • Structural Adequacy
  • Occupant Risk
  • Vehicle Trajectory

Calspan’s independent test lab will help you from start to finish to get your MASH certification. From installation to execution of the test, our team will deliver you with the data you need to get to market.

 

MASH ratings start with the test level which the test article will be certified to. In MASH, there are 6 test levels which increase in test speed and vehicle size as the test level increases. Test Levels are determined by the in-field application of the traffic safety device being tested (city roads, rural roads, highways, etc). To achieve a rating, the physical crash test of a traffic safety device must have met certain criteria regarding where the car ended up, how it got there and what kind of damage occurred. The basic differences per test level are noted below:

  • TL-1: Cars and pick-up trucks –– 31 mph
  • TL-2: Cars and pick-up trucks –– 44 mph
  • TL-3: Cars and pick-up trucks –– 62 mph
  • TL-4: Cars, pick-up trucks, and single unit trucks –– 62 mph and 56 mph respectively
  • TL-5: Cars, pick-up trucks, and tractor trailers –– 62 and 50 mph respectively
  • TL-6: Cars, pick-up trucks, and tractor tank trailers –– 62 and 50 mph respectively
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