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The number of passenger cars equipped with side air bags is steadily increasing. With the aim of investigating the mechanical responses and the injuries of the arm under the influence of a side air bag, tests in probably higher injury risk configurations with dummies and cadavers were performed. The air bag was installed at the outer side of the seat back, with the subject seated in the driver or front passenger seat of a passenger car. During the inflation of the air bag, the left or right forearm of the subject was positioned on the arm rest while the upper arm made contact with the seat back edge. The volume of the thorax air bag was 15 litres and for the thorax-head air bag 28 litres. The dummy was instrumented at the thorax c.g. shoulder, elbow and wrist with triaxial accelerometers. In the cadaver, triaxial accelerations in three orthogonal directions were measured at the upper and the lower humerus, the upper radius and the lower radius and the first thoracic vertebrae.

Sixty-three simulated frontal impacts using cadaveric specimens were performed to examine and quantify the performance of various contemporary automotive restraint systems. Test specimens were instrumented with accelerometers and chest bands to characterize their mechanical responses during the impact. The resulting thoracic injury severity was determined using detailed autopsy and was classified using the Abbreviated Injury Scale. The ability of various mechanical parameters and combinations of parameters to assess the observed injury severities was examined and resulted in the observation that belt restraint systems generally had higher injury rates than air bag restraint systems for the same level of mechanical responses. To provide better injury evaluations from observed mechanical parameters without prior knowledge of what restraint system was being used, a dichotomous process was developed.

The study reports on the results of frontal collisions with 16 cadavers and two Hybrid III dummies with impact velocities of 48 km/h to 55 km/h and a mean sled deceleration of 17 g; mounted to the sled was the front part of a passenger compartment. The cadavers were restrained in the driver position with either 3-point belts (6% and 16 % elongation) and/or air bag with knee bolster and one case was unrestrained. In most cases, both a 12-accelerometer thoracic array and 2 chest bands were employed. In some cases the acceleration at Th6 was measured. The cadavers were autopsied and the injury severity was rated according to the AIS 90. Maximum resultant Th1, Th6, and Th12 accelerations or sternum accelerations in x-direction ranged from 35g to 78g when using 3-point belts and produced injuries ranging from a few rib fractures to unstable chest wall (flail chest).

The paper describes an evaluation of impact performance requirements for pedal cycle helmets. The paper examines the results of two related studies, evaluates other helmet test results and proposes performance criteria more effective for the amelioration of head injury. The two main studies are of pedal cycle helmet performance in real accidents (McIntosh and Dowdell IRCOBI 1992) and head impact tests conducted under conditions relevant to those occurring during pedal cycle accidents (McIntosh et al Stapp 1993). The results of other helmet evaluations are drawn upon. The paper examines a number of areas of helmet performance and focuses on head coverage and impact test criteria. The results of the studies demonstrate that pedal cycle helmets are failing to provide adequate coverage in the temporal region, and that standards tests are not sensitive to this problem.

The number of passenger vehicles with combined 3-point belt/driver air bag restraint systems is steadily increasing. To investigate the effectiveness of this restraint combination, 48 kph frontal collisions were performed with human cadavers. Each cadaver's thorax was instrumented with a 12-accelerometer array and two chest bands. The results show, that by using a combined standard 3-point belt (6% elongation)/driver air bag, the thoracic injury pattern remained located under the shoulder belt. The same observation was found when belts with 16% elongation were used in combination with the driver air bag. Chest contours derived from the chest bands showed high local compression and deformation of the chest along the shoulder belt path, and suggest the mechanism for the thoracic injuries.

A test series of 12 fresh cadavers and 5 Part 572 dummies is reported. The test configuration is frontal impact sled simulation at 30 mph and aims to simulate the restraint environment of a Volvo 240 car. The test occupants are restrained in a 3-point safety belt. The instrumentation of the surrogates involves mainly 12-accelerometers in chest, 9-accelerometers in head and 3-accelerometers in pelvis. Measured values are given and discussed together with the medical findings from the cadaver tests. The occurence of submarining with cadavers and dummies is reported. A comparison is also made with earlier work where both field accidents and sled simulatations of similar violence have been reported. It is concluded that there exist differences in kinematics between the dummy and the cadaver, although peak chest acceleration is similar in both conditions. The lap belt slides over the iliac crest more frequently in the cadaver tests than in the dummy tests.

Children are often involved in automotive accidents especially as car occupants. Their protection presents particular problems in the first years of life, due to large changes in their morphology and behaviour. The aim of this paper is to contribute towards the development of a better evaluation of the child's tolerance to impact. Car accident investigations are analysed to bring information on injury mechanisms and severities. Free fall accidents are other sources of data used to correlate injuries with impact conditions. Theoretical analysis is considered for extrapolation of experimental data obtained from adult humans and animal surrogates. Then crash simulations with child cadavers and primates restrained in child seats are analysed and the estimation of tolerance levels for children is discussed.