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From past experience, crash accelerations in CART Champ Cars during 2000 and 2001 would have caused head injuries at a 15% occurrence rate and neck injuries at a 7.5% occurrence. In 28 incidents in 2000 and 2001 involving 33 drivers, there were no cervical fractures or dislocations, one significant, but minor head injury and 8 instances of minor neck complaint, all of which resolved spontaneously within three weeks. One driver lost racing time. This on-track experience supports the laboratory data previously published and demonstrates the efficacy of the HANS® * device in substantially reducing the risk of head and neck injury in motorsports. (*HANS® is a registered trademark and an acronym for Head and Neck Support.)

Crash test dummies serve as human surrogates in automotive crash simulations, and accelerations monitored in the heads of these dummies are used for assessment of human head injury hazard. For these acceleration measurements to be meaningful indicators of head injury, the impact response of the human head must be a part of dummy head design. This paper describes the conception, design, and development of a crash test dummy head. Geometric, inertial, and performance requirements based on biomechanical information are presented and discussed. The head design concept is compatible with current head injury assessment procedures, and the configuration is based on the GM Research skull and head geometry models. The manufacture and development are described, and the test procedures and results are presented and discussed with reference to the biomechanical and functional requirements. The resulting dummy head is shown to comply with these requirements.