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There has been recent progress over the past 10 years in research comparing 6-year-old thoracic and abdominal response of pediatric volunteers, pediatric post mortem human subjects (PMHS), animal surrogates, and 6-year-old ATDs. Although progress has been made to guide scaling laws of adult to pediatric thorax and abdomen data for use in ATD design and development of finite element models, further effort is needed, particularly with respect to lateral impacts. The objective of the current study was to use the impact response data of age equivalent swine from Yaek et al. (2018) to assess the validity of scaling laws used to develop lateral impact response corridors from adult porcine surrogate equivalents (PSE) to the 3-year-old, 6-year-old, and 10-year-old for the thorax and abdominal body regions.

While seat belts are the most effective safety technology in vehicles today, there are continual efforts in the industry to improve their ability to reduce the risk of injury. In this paper, seat belt pretensioners and current trends towards more powerful systems were reviewed and analyzed. These more powerful systems may be, among other things, systems that develop higher belt forces, systems that remove slack from belt webbing at higher retraction speeds, or both. The analysis started with validation of the Ford Human Body Finite Element Model for use in evaluation of abdominal belt loading by pretensioners. The model was then used to show that those studies, done with lap-only belts, can be used to establish injury metrics for tests done with lap-shoulder belts. Then, previously performed PMHS studies were used to develop AIS 2+ and AIS 3+ injury risk curves for abdominal interaction with seat belts via logistic regression and reliability analysis with interval censoring.

This paper describes the injuries generated during dynamic belt loading to a porcine model of the 6-year-old human abdomen, and correlates injury outcomes with measurable parameters. The test fixture produced transverse, dynamic belt loading on the abdomen of 47 immediately post-mortem juvenile swine at two locations (upper/lower), with penetration magnitudes ranging from 23% – 65% of the undeformed abdominal depth, with and without muscle tensing, and over a belt penetration rate range of 2.9 m/s – 7.8 m/s. All thoracoabdominal injuries were documented in detail and then coded according to the Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS). Observed injuries ranged from AIS 1 to AIS 4. The injury distribution matched well the pattern of injuries observed in a large sample of children exposed to seatbelt loading in the field, with most of the injuries in the lower abdomen.

Injury to the far side occupant has been demonstrated as a significant portion of the total trauma in side impacts. The objective of the study was to determine the response of PMHS in far side impact configurations, with and without generic countermeasures, and compare responses to the WorldSID and THOR dummies. A far side impact buck was designed for a sled test system that included a center console and three-point belt system. The buck allowed for additional options of generic countermeasures including shoulder or thorax plates or an inboard shoulder belt. The entire buck could be mounted on the sled in either a 90-degree (3-o'clock PDOF) or a 60-degree (2-o'clock PDOF) orientation. A total of 18 tests on six PMHS were done to characterize the far side impact environment at both low (11 km/h) and high (30 km/h) velocities. WorldSID and THOR-NT tests were completed in the same configurations to conduct matched-pair comparisons.

Injury to the far side occupant has been demonstrated as a significant portion of the total trauma in side impacts. The objective of the study was to determine the response of PMHS in far side impact configurations, with and without generic countermeasures, and compare responses to the WorldSID and THOR dummies. A far side impact buck was designed for a sled test system that included a center console and three-point belt system. The buck allowed for additional options of generic countermeasures including shoulder or thorax plates or an inboard shoulder belt. The entire buck could be mounted on the sled in either a 90-degree (3-o'clock PDOF) or a 60-degree (2-o'clock PDOF) orientation. A total of 18 tests on six PMHS were done to characterize the far side impact environment at both low (11 km/h) and high (30 km/h) velocities. WorldSID and THOR-NT tests were completed in the same configurations to conduct matched-pair comparisons.

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 biomechanical behavior of a harness style 4-point seat belt system in farside impacts was investigated through dummy and post mortem human subject tests. Specifically, this study was conducted to evaluate the effect of the inboard shoulder belt portion of a 4-point seat belt on the risk of vertebral and soft-tissue neck injuries during simulated farside impacts. Two series of sled tests simulating farside impacts were completed with crash dummies of different sizes, masses and designs to determine the forces and moments on the neck associated with loading of the shoulder belt. The tests were also performed to help determine the appropriate dummy to use in further testing. The BioSID and SID-IIs reasonably simulated the expected kinematics response and appeared to be reasonable dummies to use for further testing. Analysis also showed that dummy injury measures were lower than injury assessment reference values used in development of side impact airbags.

To date, several lateral impact studies (Bolte et al., 2000, 2003, Marth, 2002 and Compigne et al., 2004) have been performed on the shoulder to determine the response characteristics and injury threshold of the shoulder complex. Our understanding of the biomechanical response and injury tolerance of the shoulder would be improved if the results of these tests were combined. From a larger data base shoulder injury tolerance criteria can be developed as well as corridors for side impact dummies. Data from the study by Marth (2002, 12 tests) was combined with data from the previous studies. Twenty-two low speed tests (4.5 ± 0.7 m/s) and 9 high speed tests (6.7 ± 0.7 m/s) were selected from the combined data for developing corridors. Shoulder force, deflection and T1y acceleration corridors were developed using a minimization of cumulative variance technique.

Thirty-three fresh human cadaver shoulders were harvested and bone-ligament-bone specimens of acromioclavicular joint, coracoclavicular joint and sternoclavicular joint were obtained. A test fixture and clamps specifically designed for this ligament study and a high-speed Instron machine were used. One quasi-static rate (nominally 0.1 %/sec) and two high rates (nominally, high rate 1 = 40,000 %/sec and high rate 2 = 15,000 %/sec) were used in this study. In the acromioclavicular joint tests, ligament failure was the most common failure mode. Bone fractures occurred most often at the clavicle rather than acromion. In the coracoclavicular joint tests, the majority of specimens failed at the ligament and bone fractures occurred at the coracoid. In the sternoclavicular joint tests, the specimen failed at the bone in most cases. In the acromioclavicular joint and coracoclavicular joint tests, high rate 2 tests and quasi-static tests had more bone fracture cases than high rate 1 tests.

The biomechanical behavior of 4-point seat belt systems was investigated through MADYMO modeling, dummy tests and post mortem human subject tests. This study was conducted to assess the effect of 4-point seat belts on the risk of thoracic injury in frontal impacts, to evaluate the ability to prevent submarining under the lap belt using 4-point seat belts, and to examine whether 4-point belts may induce injuries not typically observed with 3-point seat belts. The performance of two types of 4-point seat belts was compared with that of a pretensioned, load-limited, 3-point seat belt. A 3-point belt with an extra shoulder belt that “crisscrossed” the chest (X4) appeared to add constraint to the torso and increased chest deflection and injury risk. Harness style shoulder belts (V4) loaded the body in a different biomechanical manner than 3-point and X4 belts.

Injuries to the thorax and abdomen comprise a significant percentage of all occupant injuries in motor vehicle accidents. While the percentage of internal chest injuries is reduced for restrained front-seat occupants in frontal crashes, serious skeletal chest injuries and abdominal injuries can still result from interaction with steering wheels and restraint systems. This paper describes the design and performance of prototype components for the chest, abdomen, spine, and shoulders of the Hybrid III dummy that are under development to improve the capability of the Hybrid III frontal crash dummy with regard to restraint-system interaction and injury-sensing capability.

This paper details the development of an abdominal injury assessment device for loading due to belt restraint submarining in the Hybrid III family of dummies. The design concept and criteria, response criteria, choice of injury criterion, and validation are explained. Conclusions of this work are: 1) Abdominal injury assessment for belt loading due to submarining is now possible in the Hybrid III family of dummies. 2) The abdomen developed has biofidelity in its force deflection characteristics for belt loading, is capable of detecting the occurrence of submarining, and can be used to determine the probability of abdominal injury when submarining occurs. 3) Installation of the abdomen in the Hybrid III dummy does not change the dummy kinematics when submarining does not occur. 4) When submarining does occur, the dummy kinematics are very similar to baseline Hybrid III kinematics, except for torso angle.

Seventeen left lateral impact experiments were performed using anesthetized swine to determine the biomechanics of injury production in this impact mode. Two series of eight animals were used and one animal served as a control. In the first series of experiments, rigid thoracic and pelvic loading surfaces were separated by an “interplate gap” of 20.3 cm (8”). In the second series of experiments, the interplate gap was filled by a rigid plate mounted flush with the thoracic and pelvic loading surfaces. Impact velocities ranged from 7.2 to 15.0 m/s (about 15 to 30 mph). Injury patterns for the liver, spleen, and rib cage were significantly different in the two series of experiments (level of significance > 90%). The causative factor responsible for the different injury outcomes was the interplate gap. The conclusion of this report is that loading-surface discontinuities can cause significant injury.

European safety community has been actively involved in side impact research and has made significant contributions. One of the most recent is the development of the Euro-SID (European Side impact Dummy) which contains an abdominal injury detection element. This report details an analysis of the dummy abdomen and the cadaver tests upon which it is based. Specifically, the analysis examines the empirical basis, and final design of the Euro-SID abdomen with the following conclusions proffered: 1) The inclusion of an abdominal injury prediction element in the European Side impact Dummy is an important advancement in anthropomorphic dummy design. 2) The peak force-maximum compression criterion chosen as the predictor of injury is valid, given the results from the 8 cadaver tests upon which it is based.

This report describes a series of experiments using Hexcel(TM) to limit the impact force in lateral abdominal impacts. Two hundred fourteen (214) anesthetized New Zealand White rabbits were impacted at 5 to 15 m/s using a pneumatic impactor. Injury responses from tests with a force-limiting impact interface (94 tests) were compared with the responses from tests with a rigid impact interface (120 tests) having the same level of lateral abdominal compression. The Hexcel had a length of 3 inches, the same diameter as the rigid impactor, and crushed at a constant force (pressure level of 232 kPa (33 psi)) once deformation was initiated. The results of these tests showed that the probability of serious abdominal injury did not change significantly with the Hexcel, even though peak pressures were reduced to as little as one third of their previous values.

Data from the National Crash Severity Study (NCSS) has been analyzed with respect to lateral impacts. Accident variables, vehicle variables, and occupant variables, and their interactions have been considered. Emphasis has been placed on occupant variables, especially occupant injury patterns. This report is mainly a compendium of the data, including a comparison of the NCSS statistics with those from France, Germany, and Great Britain. Overall, these lateral impact statistics are quite similar to results of other field accident studies, which is an interesting observation given the diverse vehicle and driver populations and the differing traffic situations experienced by those populations. Conclusions have been drawn regarding typical lateral impact situations and the effectiveness of seatbelts in lateral impacts.