Restrained driver and passenger kinematics and injury outcome in frontal collisions are compared using US fatality field data and post-mortem human surrogate sled tests. The fatality data indicate that a frontal airbag may provide greater benefit for a passenger than for a driver. The thoracic injuries sustained by passenger-side surrogates restrained by a force-limited, pre-tensioned belt and airbag are evaluated, and kinematics are compared with driver-side subjects exposed to a similar impact. Driver and passenger kinematic differences are identified and the implications are discussed with respect to the injury-predictive ability of existing thoracic injury criteria. The chest acceleration of the passenger-side subjects exhibited a bimodal profile with an initial (and global) maximum before the subject loaded the airbag. A second acceleration peak occurred as the subject loaded both the belt and the airbag. A similarly restrained driver-side subject loaded the belt and airbag concurrently at the time of peak chest acceleration and therefore did not exhibit this biomodal chest acceleration. While the injury-causing or injury-mitigating significance of this bimodal response is not known, its significance with respect to thoracic injury prediction is discussed.
Comparison and evaluation of contemporary restraint systems in the driver and front-passenger environments
2001-11-01
13 pages
Article (Journal)
Electronic Resource
English
Automotive engineering | 2001
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Automotive engineering | 1986
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