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The concept of increasing strength requirements for automotive seats has been proposed as a means of reducing occupant injuries, particularly in the rear-end impact environment. This paper will evaluate various safety trade-offs and practical requirements of seat design brought about by modifications that include the rigidification of seat structures. Rigidified and yielding seat design concepts are evaluated, utilizing analytical procedures as well as data from static and dynamic tests. The effect of seat rigidification is examined in terms of occupant interaction with the surrounding structure and with the restraint system. Potential effects of these modifications on occupant kinematics and resulting injury exposures are also examined. The elastic properties of conventionally rigidified seat structures are compared to rigid seat structures in terms of their effect on occupant motion during collision.

Latest safety standards require that passenger car seats be only sufficiently strong to withstand 20 times their own weight during a collision. However, front seats should withstand the 30 G rear passenger impacts during frontal impacts. The current conventional car seat design cannot accommodate direct attachment of restraining systems or direct loading from rear seat occupants. This paper discusses seat concepts evaluated and reported upon in recent years. In addition, recommendations derived from full-scale collision experiments are discussed by the authors.