Code of Federal Regulations Title 49. Transportation § 49.238.417 Side loads

(a) Each passenger car body structure shall be designed to resist an inward transverse load of 80,000 pounds of force applied to the side sill and 10,000 pounds of force applied to the belt rail (horizontal members at the bottom of the window opening in the side frame).

(b) These loads shall be considered to be applied separately over the full vertical dimension of the specified member for any distance of 8 feet in the direction of the length of the car.

(c) The allowable stress shall be the lesser of the yield stress, except as otherwise allowed by this paragraph, or the critical buckling stress. In calculating the stress to show compliance with this requirement, local yielding of the side skin adjacent to the side sill and belt rail, and local yielding of the side sill bend radii at the crossbearer and floor-beam connections is allowed. For purposes of this paragraph, local yielding is allowed provided the resulting deformations in no way intrude upon the occupied volume of the car.

(d) The connections of the side frame to the roof and underframe shall support the loads specified in this section.