The newly formed Working Group will provide the support for the development of a new, selfcontained section of the handbook on composite Crashworthiness and Energy Management for vehicle safety certification. The Work Group will also attempt to address the needs of the composites and aeronautics community at large, and to provide a unique forum of discussion for those working in industry, research institutions, and government agencies. Through a close interaction with ASTM Committee D-30, the Work Group will try to develop standards for the characterization of the energy-absorbing characteristics of composite material systems, such as the axial crushing of column-like members and of thin-wall tubular structures, representative of aircraft sub-floors and automotive-sized rails. In general, it will try to present, for the first time in a concise and comprehensive fashion, some recommended design guidelines and practices for the experimental and numerical characterization of the crash resistance of advanced composite structures.