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This paper presents the design detail of the Lear Extractable Safety Seat, which has been developed in conjunction with the FIA and Stewart Grand Prix for use in the Formula One race car cockpit. The seat is designed for use in the event of an accident that renders the driver incapacitated. The Extractable Seat allows the driver to be fully immobilized for extrication without the need for torso manipulation. This minimizes the risk of exacerbating any potential spinal injuries, while allowing for efficient removal of the driver from the cockpit. The seat was introduced at the 1998 Japanese Grand Prix, and the design has now been specified by the FIA as mandatory for all formula one cars from the 1999 season and beyond. Continued developments are currently underway for the next generation seat in order to improve efficiency of the system and address issues from its first season of implementation. The status of these developments is also presented in this paper.

This paper presents the results of an extensive test program conducted on behalf of Stewart Grand Prix at Lear Corporation's Technology Division in Southfield, Michigan. This project was conducted in conjunction with Bell Sports, Impact Medical Technologies, and Kistler Instrumentation. The scope of this project was two-fold. The 1st goal was to evaluate alternative materials for the current head surround to improve head impact protection in the F1 cockpit. This involved 2 phases of testing. First was a series of headform drop tests to characterize material performance. A hyge sled test program was then conducted to evaluate the effects of the head surround on occupant head and neck loads during crash simulation. A correlation between these two types of tests is investigated in order to define criteria for future development. The 2nd part of this project involved the evaluation of head acceleration response during the hyge sled tests.