Accident Reconstruction & Biomechanics / Accident Reconstruction

Heavy Truck / Bus / RV Accident Reconstruction

Technical Excellence

Accident reconstruction for heavy trucks and buses requires knowledge specific to heavy vehicles. At YA Group, our engineers undergo specialized training and courses to become experts including heavy vehicle design and accident reconstruction of heavy truck rollover accidents. We provide hands-on training to understand air brake systems, vehicle components, and heavy vehicle dynamics. In addition, our experts are trained in heavy vehicle safety and operation.

The engineers at YA have performed full-scale brake tests of heavy trucks, as well as teardowns and failure investigations of the brake systems. We have the equipment and training to perform Electronic Download Retrieval (EDR) of Engine Control Modules (ECM), or “the black box”, found on many heavy trucks. Additionally, we have specialized software to perform sophisticated computer simulations of heavy truck and bus accidents.

Why EDR Data Matters

Accessing EDR data is essential to perform accurate accident investigations and reconstructions. EDRs are installed on most commercial heavy vehicles produced today. This electronic data provides pre-crash and post-crash information to identify driver actions, including throttle application, and braking. Our heavy truck experts extract vehicle data from engine control modules produced by manufacturers such as Detroit Diesel, Cummins, Caterpillar, and International, which can report system faults, performance and hard braking incidents or other critical incidents. Brake system modules store data relative to braking system faults and vehicle responses during events. Radar-based systems such as VORAD can add information about both the radar-equipped vehicle and the other vehicles around it at the time of the incident.

Beyond Factory-Installed EDRs

Accident data isn’t limited to factory systems. Many vehicles also use aftermarket tracking and telematics systems that store valuable information:

GPS Navigation Units: Memory cards often record trip details, speed, and GPS coordinates.
Heavy Truck Systems: Electronic on-board recorders and telematics systems confirm driver’s hours, duty status, vehicle position.
Video Systems: Solutions like DriveCam and SmartDrive capture driver perspective and vehicle speeds seconds before impact.

YA Group’s experts identify these systems, preserve their data, and integrate that data into our comprehensive accident analyses.

YA Heavy Truck Academy (YAHTA)

Our experts not only attend specialized courses in heavy truck inspections and downloads of engines and safety systems; they also teach these courses. YAHTA is a comprehensive, hands-on, three-day training course that is sponsored by YA and taught by YA instructors. The purpose of YAHTA is to train YA Experts and clients in the various methods and nuances of inspections and analysis of heavy trucks and buses. The course includes downloading various types of engines with trucks that are currently “in use.” In addition, trucks and trailers that are damaged, and/or have damaged braking systems, are included in the training sessions so that attendees gain experience in working on vehicles that are less than pristine, and potentially more representative of the vehicles that they will be inspecting in the field after an accident.