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Recent field data have shown that the occupant protection in vehicle rear seats failed to keep pace with advances in the front seats likely due to the lack of advanced safety technologies. The objective of this study was to optimize advanced restraint systems for protecting rear seat occupants with a range of body sizes under different frontal crash pulses. Three series of sled tests (baseline tests, advanced restraint trial tests, and final tests), MADYMO model validations against a subset of the sled tests, and design optimizations using the validated models were conducted to investigate rear seat occupant protection with 4 Anthropomorphic Test Devices (ATDs) and 2 crash pulses.

Define recommendations for color coding of child restraint labels, specifically focused on the information contained therein and whether it provides information for installation in a forward facing, rear facing, or booster mode.

1. SCOPE These guidelines should be considered: When implementing the LATCH system in vehicle seating positions that will be designated by the vehicle owner’s manual and in the information included in the owners manual. When implementing the LATCH system in child restraint designs that include the LATCH system and in the information included in the instruction manual

Abstract The ability of senior citizens as well as other members of the general population to engage in an effective manner with technology is of increasing importance as new and innovative technologies become available. While recognizing the challenges that technologies can have on different populations, the ability to interact successfully with new technologies will, for seniors, have important consequences that can affect their quality of life and those of their families in numerous and important ways. This study, building upon previous research, examines the major dimensions of decision-making regarding attitudes toward autonomous vehicle technologies (ATVs) and their use. The study utilized data from a study of senior citizens in the Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) area and compared the results with a sample of graduate students from a local university.

Accident data show that the head and the chest are the most frequently injured body regions in side impact fatal accidents. Curtain side air bag (CSA) and thorax side air bag (SAB) have been installed by manufacturers for the protection devices for these injuries. In this research, first we studied the recent side impact accident data in Japan and verified that the head and chest continued to be the most frequently injured body regions in fatal accidents. Second, we studied the occupant seating postures in vehicles on the roads, and found from the vehicle's side view that the head location of 56% of the drivers was in line or overlapped with the vehicle's B-pillar. This observation suggests that in side collisions head injuries may occur frequently due to contacts with the B-pillar. Third, we conducted a side impact test series for struck vehicles with and without CSA and SAB.

Approximately 600,000 fatalities occur each year as a result of pedestrians being impacted by motor vehicles (World Bank, 2008). Previous studies (Heller et al., 2009) have utilized databases such as the National Inpatient Sample (NIS) to gain a more thorough understanding of the common injury patterns that occur in real-world traffic collisions involving pedestrians in the United States. The NIS contains records on five to eight million hospital stays annually and provides a wealth of information regarding injuries to hospitalized pedestrian casualties in the U.S. Because of the large number of applicable records in the NIS and the randomized sampling procedure, the data can be used to complete analyses that are not possible with smaller databases such as the Pedestrian Crash Data Study (PCDS), which is not intended to be statistically representative of pedestrian crashes in general.

As software (SW) becomes more and more an important aspect of embedded system development, project schedules are requiring the earlier development of software simultaneously with hardware (HW). In addition, verification has increasingly challenged the design of complex mixed-signal SoC products. This is exacerbated for automotive safety critical SoC products with a high number of analogue interfaces (sensors and actuators) to the physical components such as an airbag SoC chipset. Generally, it is widely accepted that verification accounts for around 70% of the total SoC development. Since integration of HW and SW is the most crucial step in embedded system development, the sooner it is done, the sooner verification can begin. As such, any approaches which could allow verification and integration of HW/SW to be deployed earlier in the development process and help to decrease verification effort, (e.g.: accelerate verification runs) are of extreme interest.

The number of elderly drivers is increasing in Japan and ensuring the safety of elderly drivers is becoming an important issue. The authors previously conducted an analysis of the characteristics of accidents and traffic violations by elderly drivers based on the number of accidents in which they were rear-ended. This method was used in order to exclude the influence of driving frequency. As a result of that analysis, it was found that the likelihood of violations committed by elderly drivers was not particularly higher than in other age groups, while the likelihood of accidents caused by them was higher. The risk of causing an accident was judged to be about two times higher in elderly drivers than in the 35-44 year age group. However, the methodology presupposed that collisions in which a driver is rear-ended are accidents that occur randomly, and that they occur with the same probability in each age group.

The experimental campaign discussed in publication 2019-01-0635 was extended to emulate more vehicle parameters and also to increase severity leading to deployment event. The engine speed (RPM) and Accelerator Pedal Position (APP) were emulated using LabVIEW and added to the previously reported emulated parameters of wheel speeds and brake status. Overlapping non-deployment events were generated and the EDR data is presented enriched with additional (faster) CAN bus data sniffed from the vehicle harness. While the non-deployment events were still generated using the rubber mallet in pendulum configuration as in 2019-01-0635, a series of tests were performed using an Izod pendulum to incrementally increase event severity until deployment event was generated. The Izod pendulum was instrumented with a rotational potentiometer to measure its instantaneous angle while laboratory accelerometers were used to separately measure acceleration.

Transfer or response equations are important as they provide relationships between the responses of different surrogates under matched, or nearly identical loading conditions. In the present study, transfer equations for different body regions were developed via mathematical modeling. Specifically, validated finite element models of the age-dependent Ford human body models (FHBM) and the mid-sized male Hybrid III (HIII50) were used to generate a set of matched cases (i.e., 192 frontal sled impact cases involving different restraints, impact speeds, severities, and FHBM age). For each impact, two restraint systems were evaluated: a standard three-point belt with and without a single-stage inflator airbag. Regression analyses were subsequently performed on the resulting FHBM- and HIII50-based responses. This approach was used to develop transfer equations for seven body regions: the head, neck, chest, pelvis, femur, tibia, and foot.

Japan is suffering from the problem of an ageing society. In Kitakyushu city more than a quarter of people are aged above 65 years. The roads in this region are narrow with steep gradient and vulnerable roadbed. A big ratio of elderly people are living on their own. These characteristics make driving unsuitable. The problem is magnified by infrequent public transportation. A need-assessment survey for an autonomous vehicle at a community event suggested the applicability of small electric vehicle Toyota COMS. The vehicle is then equipped with features like automatic driving and platooning. The autonomous drive system is built to develop an intelligent transport system (ITS) using various sensors and actuators. Stereo camera and ultrasonic sensors were used to get a judgment of obstacle. Google earth and GPS were used to generate the target path using the Bezier curve method and optimized route is chosen.

Spine degeneration can lower injury tolerance and influence injury outcomes in vehicle crashes. To date, limited information exists on the effect of age and sex on thoracic spine 3-dimensional geometry. The purpose of this study is to quantify thoracic spinal column and canal geometry using selected geometrical measurement from a large sample of CT scans. More than 33,488 scans were obtained from the International Center for Automotive Medicine database at the University of Michigan under Institutional Review Board approval (HUM00041441). The sample consisted of CT scans obtained from 31,537 adult and 1,951 pediatric patients between the ages of 0 to 99 years old. Each scan was processed semi-automatically using custom algorithms written in MATLAB (The Math Works, Natick, MA). Five geometrical measurements were collected including: 1) maximum spinal curvature depth (D), 2) T1-to-T12 vertical height (H), 3) Kyphosis Index (KI), 4) kyphosis angle, and 5) spinal canal radius.

This paper is based on, and in continuation of the work previously published in ASEE NCS Conference held in Grand Rapids, MI [1]. Automotive seating rail structures are one of the key components in the automotive industry because they carry the entire weight of passenger and they hold the structure for seating foams and other assembled key components such as side airbag and seatbelt systems. The entire seating is supported firmly and attached to the bottom bodywork of the vehicle through the linkage assembly called the seat rails. Seat rails are adjustable in their longitudinal motion which plays an important role in giving the passengers enough leg room to make them feel comfortable. Therefore, seat rails under the various operating conditions, should be able to withstand the weight of the passenger along with the other assembled parts as mentioned above. Also, functional requirements such as crash safety is very important to avoid or to minimize injuries to the occupants.

In highly automated vehicles (HAVs), new seat configurations may be desirable to allow occupants to perform new activities. One of the current HAV concepts is the swiveled seat layout, which might facilitate communication between occupants. The main objective of this study was to investigate the effects of seat swiveling angles on occupant kinematics and injury risk predicted by a Human Body Model (HBM) during a frontal impact. A detailed 50th percentile male HBM (GHBMC M50-O) was subjected to two frontal crash pulses in a sled setup. The model was positioned on a semi-rigid seat and restrained using a pre-inflated airbag and a three-point seatbelt. Simulations included four seat swiveling angles (0, -10, -20, and -30 degrees), three occupant positions (Sedan driver, large VAN driver or Laptop user), two airbag initial locations (nominal or matching the head Y location), and the inclusion of lateral supports on the seat pan.

Since little data exists to provide appropriate values for control parameters that would be appropriate for mature drivers, the following recommendations are of a general nature. However, they are based upon the current understanding of the aging processes that characterize mature drivers. Notwithstanding the lack of an extensive amount of data in this field, the dissemination of this SAE Information Report is considered to be appropriate and timely in light of the large increase in the number of mature drivers on the public roads, and because of the need to at least initiate efforts toward developing an information report covering this issue. It is realized that there may be cases where specific recommendations may conflict with vehicle packaging and/or operational requirements. Deviation from the recommendations may be necessary and permissible to achieve the best overall system performance.

This SAE Standard describes the interface between an on-vehicle Mayday detection, reporting system and the off-vehicle response center that will manage the response to the vehicle's call for assistance. The automatic detection and reporting by either the intelligent vehicle itself or by the intelligent roadway of a vehicle that is disabled or involved in an accident, [referred to as Automatic Mayday], is one of the key services identified by the ITS America program plan road map. This effort has been identified, as STD SAE J2313 in recent DOT-FHWA efforts to advance needed National standards. This document primarily addresses the responsibilities of a vehicle in detecting and reporting such an event. Equipment suites on each vehicle will vary widely, as will the communications channel employed to report the incident.

The objective of this document is to enhance the test procedure that is used for ejection mitigation testing per the NHTSA guidelines as mentioned in the FMVSS226 Final Rule document (NHTSA Docket No. NHTSA-2011-0004). The countermeasure for occupant ejection testing is to be tested with an 18kg mass on a guided linear impactor using the featureless headform specifically designed for ejection mitigation testing. SAE does not endorse any particular countermeasure for ejection mitigation testing. However, the document reflects guidelines that should be followed to maintain consistency in the test results. Examples of currently used countermeasures include the Inflatable Curtain airbags and Laminated Glass.

The objective of this document is to enhance the test procedure that is used for ejection mitigation testing per the NHTSA guidelines as mentioned in the FMVSS226 Final Rule document (NHTSA Docket No. NHTSA-2011-0004). The countermeasure for occupant ejection testing is to be tested with an 18kg mass on a guided linear impactor using the featureless headform specifically designed for ejection mitigation testing. SAE does not endorse any particular countermeasure for ejection mitigation testing. However, the document reflects guidelines that should be followed to maintain consistency in the test results. Examples of currently used countermeasures include the Inflatable Curtain airbags and Laminated Glass.

The new sound and vibration laboratory at Autoliv’s Ogden Technical Center (OTC) was purpose-built with a focus on automotive safety restraint product development (air bags, seat belts, steering wheels, etc.). The laboratory requirements stem from the continued industry trend of quieter vehicles which drives the need for components with extremely low levels of rattle noise. The laboratory at OTC complements similar Autoliv testing facilities around the world. Test articles range from several cubic inches up to approximately one cubic foot and contain varying degrees of moving elements. With the new laboratory at OTC, Autoliv can test new product designs earlier in the development process and obtain test results and feedback faster. The function of the OTC test lab is vibration-induced rattle noise; shake components with a known input and measure the resulting noise.