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Pedestrians and cyclists are the most unprotected road users and their injury risk in case of accidents is significantly higher than for other road users. The understanding of the influence and sensitivity between important variables describing a pedestrian crash is key for the development of more efficient and reliable safety systems. This paper reflects the related work carried out within the AsPeCSS project. The results summarized out of virtual and physical tests provide valuable information for further development. 1168 virtual and 120 physical tests were carried out with adult and child pedestrian headform as well as upper and lower legform impactors representatives of 4 different vehicle front geometries in a wide range of impact speeds, angles and locations. This test matrix was based on previous work carried out within the AsPeCSS project.

Injury assessment reference values (IARV) predicting neck injuries are currently not available for side facing seated aircraft passengers in crash conditions. The aircraft impact scenario results in inertial loading of the head and neck, a condition known to be inherently different from common automotive side impact conditions as crash pulse and seating configurations are different. The objective of this study is to develop these IARV for the European Side Impact Dummy-2 (ES-2) previously selected by the US-FAA as the most suitable ATD for evaluating side facing aircraft seats. The development of the IARV is an extended analysis of previously published PMHS neck loads by identifying the most likely injury scenarios, comparing head-neck kinematics and neck loads of the ES2 versus PMHS, and development of injury risk curves for the ES2. The ES2 showed a similar kinematic response as the PMHS, particularly during the loading phase.

Virtual testing has grown to be an efficient tool in vehicle passive safety design. Most simulations currently are deterministic. Since the responses observed in real-life and standardized tests are greatly affected by scatter, a stochastic approach should be adopted in order to improve the predictability of the numerical responses with respect to the experimental data. In addition, an objective judgement of the performance of numerical models with respect to experimental data is necessary in order to improve the reliability of virtual testing. In the European VITES & ADVANCE project the software tool Adviser was developed in order to fulfil these two requirements. With Adviser, stochastic simulations can be performed and the quality of the numerical responses with respect to the experimental can be objectively rated using pre-defined and user-defined objective correlation criteria. The software Adviser was used to develop a stochastic HybridIII 50th% Madymo numerical model.

Injuries to the knee-thigh-hip (KTH) complex in frontal motor vehicle crashes are of substantial concern because of their frequency and potential to result in long-term disability. Current frontal impact Anthropometric Test Dummies (ATDs) have been shown to respond differently than human cadavers under frontal knee impact loading and consequently current ATDs (and FE models thereof) may lack the biofidelity needed to predict the incidence of knee, thigh, and hip injuries in frontal crashes. These concerns demand an efficient and biofidelic tool to evaluate the occurrence of injuries as a result of KTH loading in frontal crashes. The MADYMO human finite element (FE) model was therefore adapted to simulate bone deformation, articulating joints and soft tissue behavior in the KTH complex.

Interaction of the human arm and deploying airbag has been studied in the laboratory using post mortem human subjects (PMHS). These studies have shown how arm position on the steering wheel and proximity to the airbag prior to deployment can influence the risk of forearm bone fractures. Most of these studies used older driver airbag modules that have been supplanted by advanced airbag technology. In addition, new numerical human body models have been developed to complement, and possibly replace, the human testing needed to evaluate new airbag technology. The objective of this study is to use a finite element-based numerical (MADYMO) model, representing the human arm, to evaluate the effects of advanced driver airbag parameters on the injury potential to the bones of the forearm. The paper shows how the model is correlated to Average Distal Forearm Speed (ADFS) and arm kinematics from two PMHS tests.

Two of the main design objectives for car interiors are comfort and safety. These aspects are both determined by the seating position of the occupant. Seat manufacturers use the SAE Three-Dimensional H-Point Machine™ to measure seating positions to design, audit, and benchmark seats. The seating positions measured with the H-Point Machine form the basis of a seat design, including comfort and safety aspects. Currently, the seat design process is largely based on prototype testing, which makes this process time-consuming and expensive. Consequently, there is a large demand for efficient design tools that enable an optimal combination of seating comfort and safety aspects. Numerical modeling provides an efficient means to optimally combine various seat design characteristics prior to prototype testing, thereby reducing design costs and time-to-market.

Six European laboratories have evaluated the biomechanical response of the new advanced frontal impact dummy THOR-alpha with respect to the European impact response requirements. The results indicated that for many of the body regions (e.g., shoulder, spine, thorax, femur/knee) the THOR-alpha response was close to the human response. In addition, the durability, repeatability and sensitivity for some dummy regions have been evaluated. Based on the tests performed, it was found that the THOR-alpha is not durable enough. The lack in robustness of the THOR-alpha caused a problem in completing the full test program and in evaluating the repeatability of the dummy. The results have demonstrated that the assessment of frontal impact protection can be greatly improved with a more advanced frontal impact dummy. Regarding biofidelity and injury assessment capabilities, the THOR-alpha is a good candidate however it needs to be brought up to standard in other areas.