History

Collision Research & Analysis, Inc. (CRA) was founded in 1987 when a group of engineers that had been working for Severy, Inc. in El Segundo California as Research Engineers specializing in automotive crash safety evaluation as well as accident analysis and reconstruction, decided to start their own company.

At the time of the company's inception, one of the founders had thirty years' experience in the field of crash analysis, having worked with Derwyn Severy who was one of the pioneers of automotive safety.  This experience spanned the UCLA crash test experiments of the Fifties and Sixties, including the research and testing that formed part of the foundation for Federal Safety Standards and Regulations promulgated by the United States in the mid-Sixties. Others brought with them many years of experience in the automotive industry and in the field of automotive safety as well as specialized experience in the use of computers to assist with the tasks involved in crash analysis and to enhance the final product provided to clients.

Their work at CRA in El Segundo, California has continued to center around collision analysis, accident reconstruction and crash safety. As an adjunct to the crash analysis activities they have continued to conduct research and to publish their research findings in scientific journals. They have also published on the subject of nighttime visibility and have evaluated these issues as they relate to automotive safety and to collisions.as well as automotive component testing. As the group in Torrance expanded their staff, they also expanded their areas of activity to include computer-aided analysis of crashes and animation techniques that allow better visualization of described collision events.

In 1995, a second office was opened in Gig Harbor, Washington where additional engineers with years of automotive crash experience and crash testing experience have joined the company, providing additional areas of interest and expertise. Both groups work together or individually to provide a wide range of services to their clients.