Search Results

Accident data show that the injury risks to children seated in child restraint systems (CRSs) are higher in side collisions than any other type of collision. To investigate child injury in the CRS in a side impact, it is necessary to understand the occupant responses in car-to-car crash tests. In this research, a series of full car side impact tests based on the ECE R95 test procedure was conducted. In the vehicle's struck-side rear seat location, a Q3s three-year-old child dummy was seated in a forward facing (FF) CRS, and a CRABI six-month-old (6MO) infant dummy was seated in a rear facing (RF) CRS and also was placed in car-bed restraint. In the non-struck side rear seat location, the RF CRSs also were installed. In addition to testing the CRSs installed by a seatbelt, an ISOFIX FF CRS and an ISOFIX RF CRS were tested. For the evaluations, occupant kinematic behavior and injury measures were compared.

This research focuses on the further development of a child finite element model whereby implementation of pediatric cadaver testing observations considering the biomechanical response of the neck of children under tensile and bending loading has occurred. Prior to this investigation, the biomechanical neck response was based upon scaled adult cadaver behaviour. Alterations to the material properties associated with ligaments, intervertebral discs and facet joints of the pediatric cervical spine were considered. No alteration to the geometry of the child neck finite element model was considered. An energy based approach was utilized to provide indication on the appropriate changes to local neck biomechanical characteristics. Prior to this study, the biomechanical response of the neck of the child finite element model deviated significantly from the tensile and bending cadaver tests completed by Ouyang et al.

In vehicle-pedestrian impacts, the kinematics and severity of pedestrian injuries are affected by vehicle front shapes. Accident analyses and multibody simulations showed that for mini vans the injury risk to the head is higher, while that to the legs is lower than for bonnet-type cars. In mini-van pedestrian impacts, pedestrians ran high risks of a head impact against stiff structures such as windshield frames. When pedestrians are struck by a car with a short hood length, their heads are likely to strike into or around the windshield. The injury risks to the head by such an impact were examined by head form impact tests. The HIC rises from contact with the cowl, windshield frame or A pillar, and it lessens with increasing distance from these structural elements.

Accident data have shown that the pedestrian injuries resulting from contact with the ground are serious and may even be worse than the injuries resulting from the primary contact with the vehicle. The landing mechanisms, including the pedestrian trajectory and subsequent sequential body region contacts to the ground, are the basis for understanding the ground impact injuries of pedestrians. However, the landing mechanisms of pedestrian are too complicated to be categorized via investigation of the collision information after an accident has occurred. Nowadays, pedestrian kinematics after vehicle impacts can be observed from the accident videos that have been recorded by road monitoring and driver recorders. This study was aimed at investigating the pedestrian landing mechanisms and analyzing the influencing factors.