Characteristics of the injury environment in far-side crashes

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Digges, K.¹; Gabler, H²; Mohan, P.¹; Alonso, B.¹

Characteristics of the injury environment in far-side crashes

49th Annual Proceedings, Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine (AAAM)

Affiliations

¹The National Crash Analysis Center, George Washington University

²Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Abstract

The population of occupants in far-side crashes that are documented in the US National database (NASS/CDS) was studied. The annual number of front seat occupants with serious or fatal injuries in far-side planar and rollover crashes was 17,194. The crash environment that produces serious and fatal injuries to belted front seat occupants in planar far-side crashes was investigated in detail. It was found that both the change in velocity and extent of damage were important factors that relate to crash severity. The median severity for crashes with serious or fatal injuries was a lateral delta-V of 28 kph and an extent of damage of CDC 3.6. Vehicle-to-vehicle impacts were simulated by finite element models to determine the intrusion characteristics associated with the median crash condition. These simulations indicated that the side damage caused by the IIHS barrier was representative of the damage in crashes that produce serious injuries in far-side crashes. Occupant simulations of the IIHS barrier crash at 28 kph showed that existing dummies lack biofidelity in upper body motion. The analysis suggested test conditions for studying far-side countermeasures and supported earlier studies that showed the need for an improved dummy to evaluate safety performance in the far-side crash environment.

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Cited By (13)

Year	Entry
2006	Pintar FA, Yoganandan N, Stemper BD, Bostrom O, Rouhana SW, Smith S, Sparke L, Fildes BN, Digges KH. WorldSID assessment of far side impact countermeasures. In: 50th Annual Proceedings, Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine (AAAM). October 16-18, 2006; Chicago, IL.199-219.
2009	Heudorfer B, Kraft M. Protection system for farside occupants in lateral crashes. In: Proceedings of the 21st International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV). June 15-18, 2009; Stuttgart, Germany.
2009	Hoffmann J, Hayakawa K, Fukuyama T. Rear seat occupant protection in far side crashes. In: Proceedings of the 21st International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV). June 15-18, 2009; Stuttgart, Germany.
2013	Mathews EA, Balasubramanian S, Seacrist T, Maltese MR, Arbogast KB, Kent RW, Forman J, Higuchi K, Tanji H. Comparison of pediatric and young adult far-side head kinematics in lowspeed lateral and oblique impacts. In: Proceedings of the 23rd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV). May 27-30, 2013; Seoul, South Korea.
2015	Bahouth GT, Murakhovskiy D, Digges KH, Rist H, Wiik R. Opportunities for reducing far-side casualties. In: Proceedings of the 24th International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV). June 8-11, 2015; Gothenburg, Sweden.
2006	Feist F, Gugler J, Mayrhofer E, Steffan H. Virtual demonstration of improvements to the standard restraint system with a semi-active human-body-model for rollover and side-impact. In: Proceedings of the 2006 International IRCOBI Conference on the Biomechanics of Impact. September 20-22, 2006; Madrid, Spain.381-384.
2016	Arun MWJ, Umale S, Humm JR, Yoganandan N, Pintar FA. Impact response evaluation of a restrained whole human body finite element model under far‐side 90 and 60 degree impacts. In: Proceedings of the 2016 International IRCOBI Conference on the Biomechanics of Injury. September 14-16, 2016; Malaga, Spain.694-706.
2017	Arun MWJ, Umale S, Halloway D, Pintar FA, Yoganandan N. Can 1–DOF sled tests reproduce real world far‐side crashes? a finite element study. In: Proceedings of the 2017 International IRCOBI Conference on the Biomechanics of Injury. September 13-15, 2017; Antwerp, Belgium.298-311.
2008	Newland C, Belcher T, Bostrom O, Gabler HC, Cha J-G, Wong HL, Tylko S, Dal Nevo R. Occupant-to-occupant interaction and impact injury risk in side impact crashes. Stapp Car Crash J. 2008;52:327-347. SAE 2008-22-0013.
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2015	Mathews EA. Pediatric and Young Adult Biomechanical Response to Far-Side Oblique and Lateral Low-Speed Impacts [PhD thesis]. Philadelphia, PA: Drexel University; April 2015.
2009	Echemendia Fuentes CG. Inertia Effect of the Heart as a Contributing Factor in Aortic Injuries in Near-Side Impacts [Master's thesis]. Washington, DC: The George Washington University; January 31, 2009.
2017	Scanlon JM III. Evaluating the Potential of an Intersection Driver Assistance System to Prevent U.S. Intersection Crashes [PhD thesis]. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University; March 24, 2017.