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This paper refines the methodology presented in the companion paper linking reductions in biomechanical responses due to force-limiting material to projections of injury-mitigation in real-world side impact crashes. The revised approach was used to evaluate the potential injury reducing benefit for the chest and abdomen with either constant crush force or constant stiffness, crushable material in the side door and armrest. Using a simulation of the human impact response, a range in crush force or stiffness was determined which reduced the viscous response from that obtained with a rigid impact. NCSS field accident data for car-to-car side impacts provided information on the occupant exposure and injury as a function of the change in velocity (ΔV) of the struck vehicle. Since the velocity of the side door at contact with the occupant's chest is similar to the ΔV of the struck vehicle, the chest impact velocity in the simulation was assumed equal to the observed ΔV in the NCSS data.

This paper presents a methodology to link reductions in biomechanical responses due to force-limiting material to projections of injury mitigation in real-world side impact crashes, and to use this approach to evaluate the potential injury reducing benefit for the chest and abdomen of constant crush force material in the side door and armrest. Using a simulation of the human impact response, a range in crush force was determined which effectively reduced a peak biomechanical response from that obtained with a rigid impact. The range in constant crush force depended on the velocity of impact. The higher the velocity of impact, the higher the level of crush force to achieve a reduction in the peak response. NCSS field accident data for car-to-car side impacts provided information on the occupant exposure and injury as a function of the change in velocity (ΔV) of the struck vehicle.