Search Results

Rollover crashes are a serious public health problem in United States, with one third of traffic fatalities occurring in crashes where rollover occurred. While it has been shown that occupant kinematics affect the injury risk in rollover crashes, no anthropomorphic test device (ATD) has yet demonstrated kinematic biofidelity in rollover crashes. Therefore, the primary goal of this study was to assess the kinematic response biofidelity of six ATDs (Hybrid III, Hybrid III Pedestrian, Hybrid III with Pedestrian Pelvis, WorldSID, Polar II and THOR) by comparing them to post mortem human surrogate (PMHS) kinematic response targets published concurrently; and the secondary goal was to evaluate and compare the kinematic response differences among these ATDs.

The objective of this study was to investigate potential for traumatic brain injuries (TBI) using a newly developed, geometrically detailed, finite element head model (FEHM) within the concept of a simulated injury monitor (SIMon). The new FEHM is comprised of several parts: cerebrum, cerebellum, falx, tentorium, combined pia-arachnoid complex (PAC) with cerebro-spinal fluid (CSF), ventricles, brainstem, and parasagittal blood vessels. The model's topology was derived from human computer tomography (CT) scans and then uniformly scaled such that the mass of the brain represents the mass of a 50th percentile male's brain (1.5 kg) with the total head mass of 4.5 kg. The topology of the model was then compared to the preliminary data on the average topology derived from Procrustes shape analysis of 59 individuals. Material properties of the various parts were assigned based on the latest experimental data.

Injury to the thorax is the predominant cause of fatalities in crash-involved automobile occupants over the age of 65, and many elderly-occupant automobile fatalities occur in crashes below compliance or consumer information test speeds. As the average age of the automotive population increases, thoracic injury prevention in lower severity crashes will play an increasingly important role in automobile safety. This study presents the results of a series of sled tests to investigate the thoracic deformation, kinematic, and injury responses of belted post-mortem human surrogates (PMHS, average age 44 years) and frontal anthropomorphic test devices (ATDs) in low-speed frontal crashes. Nine 29 km/h (three PMHS, three Hybrid III 50th% male ATD, three THOR-NT ATD) and three 38 km/h (one PMHS, two Hybrid III) frontal sled tests were performed to simulate an occupant seated in the right front passenger seat of a mid-sized sedan restrained with a standard (not force-limited) 3-point seatbelt.

The likelihood of a front seat occupant sustaining a femoral shaft fracture in a frontal crash has traditionally been assessed by an injury criterion relying solely on the axial force in the femur. However, recently published analyses of real-world data indicate that femoral shaft fracture occurs at axial loads levels below those found experimentally. One hypothesis attempting to explain this discrepancy suggests that femoral shaft fracture tends to occur as a result of combined axial compression and applied bending. The current study aims to evaluate this hypothesis by investigating how these two loading components interact. Femoral shafts harvested from human cadavers were loaded to failure in axial compression, sagittal plane bending, and combined axial compression and sagittal plane bending.

Very little experimental research has focused on the kinematics, dynamics, and injuries of rear-seated occupants. This study seeks to develop a baseline response for rear-seated post mortem human surrogates (PMHS) in frontal crashes. Three PMHS sled tests were performed in a sled buck designed to represent the interior rear-seat compartment of a contemporary midsized sedan. All occupants were positioned in the right-rear passenger seat and subjected to simulated frontal crashes with an impact speed of 48 km/h. The subjects were restrained by a standard, rear seat, 3-point seat belt. The response of each subject was evaluated in terms of whole-body kinematics, dynamics, and injury. All the PMHS experienced excessive forward translation of the pelvis resulting in a backward rotation of the torso at the time of maximum forward excursion.

Event data recorders (EDRs) must survive regulatory frontal and side compliance crash tests if installed within a car or light truck built on or after September 1, 2012. Although previous research has shown that EDR data are surviving these tests, little is known about whether EDRs are capable of surviving collisions of higher delta-v, or crashes involving vehicle fire or immersion. The goal of this study was to determine the survivability of light vehicle EDRs in real world fire, immersion, and high change in velocity (delta-v) cases. The specific objective was to identify the frequency of these extreme events and to determine the EDR data download outcome when subject to damage caused by these events. This study was performed using three crash databases: the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), the National Automotive Sampling System / Crashworthiness Data System (NASS/CDS), and the National Motor Vehicle Crash Causation Survey (NMVCCS).

While over 30% of US occupant fatalities occur in rollover crashes, no dummy has been developed for such a condition. Currently, an efficient, cost-effective methodology is being implemented to develop a biofidelic rollover dummy. Instead of designing a rollover dummy from scratch, this methodology identifies a baseline dummy and modifies it to improve its response in a rollover crash. Using computational models of the baseline dummy, including both multibody (MB) and finite element (FE) models, the dummy’s structure is continually modified until its response is aligned (using BioRank/CORA metric) with biofidelity targets. A previous study (Part I) identified the THOR dummy as a suitable baseline dummy by comparing the kinematic responses of six existing dummies with PMHS response corridors through laboratory rollover testing.

Recreational Off-Highway Vehicles (ROVs), since their introduction onto the market in the late-1990s, have been related to over 300 fatalities with the majority occurring in vehicle rollover. In recent years several organizations made attempts to improve ROV safety. This paper is intended to evaluate ejection mitigation measures considered by the ROV manufacturers. Evaluated countermeasures include two types of occupant restraints (three and four point) and two structural barriers (torso bar, door with net). The Rollover protection structure (ROPS) provided by the manufacturer was attached to a Dynamic Rollover Test System (DRoTS), and a full factorial series of roll/drop/catch tests was performed. The ROV buck was equipped with two Hybrid III dummies, a 5th percentile female and a 95th percentile male. Additionally, occupant and vehicle kinematics were recorded using optoelectronic stereophotogrammetric camera system.

Rear seat adult occupant protection is receiving increased attention from the automotive safety community. Recent anthropomorphic test device (ATD) studies have suggested that it may be possible to improve kinematics and reduce injuries to rear seat occupants in frontal collisions by incorporating shoulder-belt force-limiting and pretensioning (FL+PT) technologies into rear seat 3-point belt restraints. This study seeks to further investigate the feasibility and potential kinematic benefits of a FL+PT rear seat, 3-point belt restraint system in a series of 48 kmh frontal impact sled tests (20 g, 80 ms sled acceleration pulse) performed with post mortem human surrogates (PMHS). Three PMHS were tested with a 3-point belt restraint with a progressive (two-stage) force limiting and pretensioning retractor in a sled buck representing the rear seat occupant environment of a 2004 mid-sized sedan.

Previous research has suggested that the pediatric ATD spine, developed from scaling the adult ATD spine, may not adequately represent a child's spine and thus may lead to important differences in the ATD head trajectory relative to a human. To gain further insight into this issue, the objectives of this study were, through non-injurious frontal sled tests on human volunteers, to 1) quantify the kinematic responses of the restrained child's head and spine and 2) compare pediatric kinematic responses to those of the adult. Low-speed frontal sled tests were conducted using male human volunteers (20 subjects: 6-14 years old, 10 subjects: 18-40 years old), in which the safety envelope was defined from an amusement park bumper-car impact.

Pedal misapplication (PM) crashes, i.e., crashes caused by a driver pressing one pedal while intending to press another pedal, have historically been identified by searching unstructured crash narratives for keywords and verified via labor-intensive manual inspection. This study proposes an alternative method to identify PM crashes using event data recorders (EDRs). Since drivers in emergency braking situations are motivated to hit the brake hard, it follows that drivers in emergency braking situations that commit a PM would likewise hit the accelerator hard, likely harder than accelerator pedal application during normal driving. Thus, the time-series accelerator pedal position and the derived accelerator pedal application rate were used to isolate accelerator misapplications. Additional strategic filters were applied based on characteristics observed from previous PM analyses to reduce false positive PM identifications.

This study presents a method for determining the time to collision (TTC) at which a driver of the striking vehicle in a real-world, lead vehicle stopped (LVS) rear-end collision applied the brakes. The method employs real-world cases that were extracted from the National Automotive Sampling System / Crashworthiness Data System (NASS / CDS) years 2000 to 2009. Selected cases had an Event Data Recorder (EDR) recovered from the striking vehicle that contained pre-crash vehicle speed and brake application. Of 59 cases with complete EDR records, 12 cases (20%) of drivers appeared not to apply the brakes at all prior to the collision. The method was demonstrated using 47 rear-end cases in which there was driver braking. The average braking deceleration for those cases with sufficient vehicle speed information was found to be 0.52 g's. The average TTC that braking was initiated at was found to vary in the sample population from 1.1 to 1.4 seconds.

Four crash modes are overrepresented in traffic fatalities: run-off-road crashes, non-tracking run-off-road crashes, head-on crashes, and pedestrian crashes. Two advanced driver assist systems developed to help prevent tracking run-off-road crashes and head-on crashes are lane departure warning (LDW) and lane keeping assist (LKA). LDW acts to warn the driver when they are encroaching the lane boundary, whereas LKA performs automatic steering to prevent the vehicle from departing the lane. The objective of this research was to use real-world crash data to estimate current LDW and LKA system effectiveness in reducing run-off-road crashes and cross-centerline head-on crashes. All passenger vehicles that experienced a lane departure from 2017 to 2019 in the Crash Investigation Sampling System (CISS) were analyzed.

Multiple laboratory dynamic test methods have been developed to evaluate vehicle crashworthiness in rollover crashes. However, dynamic test methods remove some of the characteristics of actual crashes in order to control testing variables. These simplifications to the test make it difficult to compare laboratory tests to crashes. One dynamic method for evaluating vehicle rollover crashworthiness is the Dynamic Rollover Test System (DRoTS), which simulates translational motion with a moving road surface and constrains the vehicle roll axis to a fixed plane within the laboratory. In this study, five DRoTS vehicle tests were performed and compared to a pair of unconstrained steering-induced rollover tests. The kinematic state of the unconstrained vehicles at the initiation of vehicle-to-ground contact was determined using instrumentation and touchdown parameters were matched in the DRoTS tests.

Occupant kinematics during rollover motor vehicle collisions have been investigated over the past thirty years utilizing Anthropomorphic Test Devices (ATDs) in various test methodologies such as dolly rollover tests, CRIS testing, spin-fixture testing, and ramp-induced rollovers. Recent testing has utilized steer maneuver-induced furrow tripped rollovers to gain further understanding of vehicle kinematics, including the vehicle's pre-trip motion. The current study consisted of two rollover tests utilizing instrumented test vehicles and instrumented ATDs to investigate occupant kinematics and injury response throughout the entire rollover sequences, from pre-trip vehicle motion to the position of rest. The two steer maneuver-induced furrow tripped rollover tests utilized a mid-sized 4-door sedan and a full-sized crew-cab pickup truck. The pickup truck was equipped with seatbelt pretensioners and rollover-activated side curtain airbags (RSCAs).