Development of a featureless free-motion headform

Howe, J. Gavin; Willke, Donald T.; Collins, J. A.

Affiliations

¹The Transportation Research Center, Inc.

²National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

Abstract

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is currently conducting research at the Vehicle Research and Test Center (VRTC) aimed at reducing the number of serious and fatal head injuries due to impact with vehicle upper interior structures.

A modified Hybrid III dummy head is currently used to test head injury potential from impacts with vehicle upper interior structures. This headform is propelled into vehicle upper interior structures with the front of the head facing the structure. Head impacts with A-pillars, side roof rails, and B-pillars may occur without the vehicle occupant facing directly into the structure. Since this is the case, it was decided that a featureless free-motion headform should be developed. This headform would not give the appearance of a forehead impacting the side structures of the vehicle.

This paper will present the design, development, and testing of a featureless free-motion headform. Biomechanical parameters considered for the design of the headform will be presented. The development of the headform will also be shown. Results presented include those from headform certification standard tests, correlation tests between the featureless free-motion headform and the full Hybrid III dummy, and a repeatability study.

Links

DOI: 10.4271/912909

SAE: 912909

Cited By (3)

Year	Entry
2003	Willke DT, Summers S, Duffy JS, Louden AE, Elias JC. Status of NHTSA’s ejection mitigation research program. In: Proceedings of the 18th International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV). May 19-22, 2003; Nagoya, Japan.
2005	Summers S, Willke DT, Sullivan LK, Duffy JS, Sword M. NHTSA’s crashworthiness rollover research program. In: Proceedings of the 19th International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV). June 6-9, 2005; Washington, DC.
2001	Beusenberg M, Shewchenko N, Newman JA, de Lange R, Cappon H. Head, neck, and body coupling in reconstructions of helmeted head impacts. In: Proceedings of the 2001 International IRCOBI Conference on the Biomechanics of Impact. October 10-12, 2001; Isle of Man, UK.