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In recent years, passive safety has been continuously improved. Legal requirements and demands regarding occupant protection in side impacts exist. A lot of reinforcements for the BIW of the cars have been constantly optimized, based on the results of static and dynamic tests. A new developed part of the occupant protection is a door-based side-airbag system combined with an energy-absorbing door, named POSIP, i.e. POrsche Side Impact Protection system. The side-airbag module includes a totally new 30 l two-chamber airbag which covers a big part of the upper door area. This side airbag has been designed to reduce both the head and thorax loads also in side pole impacts. For the first time in automotive history, a standard head protection system is offered which can be installed regardless of the roof design. The POSIP system also protects the occupants of convertibles or of cars with novel roof concepts when involved in side impact pole crashes.

The Porsche airbag module is an extension of the Madymo 2d simulation program version 4.0. It generates contact forces between the airbag and the contact cylinders and/or contact planes of the dummy or the vehicle interior respectively. The passive restraint system is calculated by means of a three-dimensional model. The simulated airbag shape is a realistic approximation of the actual airbag and can be arbitrarily defined within a large range. The results were validated by numerous crash-, sled-, component- and inflation tests using different vehicles and airbag systems. Good correlation between the results of the simulations and of comparable vehicle tests has been confirmed by many examples for both the driver and the front passenger dummies. The Porsche airbag simulation program is sensitive to variations of input parameters. The program and the data sets are easy to handle.