What is Safe Drive Away Time

Safe Drive Away Time (SDAT) is the amount of time an adhesive requires to reach the level of strength necessary to safely hold a windshield in place in the event of a crash.  Sika tests to the most stringent interpretation of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) 212/208.  Sika pioneered the concept of SDAT to the AGR industry in the early 1990’s.

Sika is continuously monitoring the SDAT throughout the development process of a product as we have perfected a high speed test method that is used to simulate crash testing according to FMVSS 212/208.  This high speed test evaluates how an adhesive performs at specific time increments and at various climatic conditions.

Sika originally began to study Finite Element Modeling (FEM) of the crash situation and identified that there is a significant difference in the force measured on the windshield if the crash test dummy is wearing a seatbelt as opposed to not wearing a seatbelt.

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Note: The two highest forces observed on the windshield are a direct result of unbelted dummies.