Child safety in small and micro cars

Nett, Reiner; Appel, Hermann

Affiliations

¹Institute of Automotive Engineering, Technical University of Berlin, Germany

Abstract

The recent past shows enormous efforts of some CRSmanufacturers to improve the protective properties of Child Restraint Systems (CRS). Several tests performed by different associations forced these manufacturers to improve the safety qualities of their products. In addition, activities, like the ISOFIX working group, help to increase the child safety in the future.

Examining the car manufacturer activities in passive safety, the development is only partially considering the child safety. At least two trends of upcoming small and micro cars may cause negative effects:

Lack of space in the rear compartment
Higher deceleration pulse due to increasing car stiffness

These trends seem to be contradictory to the general requirements given in Figure 1.

Regarding the actual ECE-regulation, it is obvious that commonly certified and used CRS are not designed for those changed requirements. This paper contains the analysis of these both effects on the child and the investigation of three different, actually discussed, CRS attachments.

Links

URL: http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/pdf/esv/esv16/98s7w14.pdf

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Cited By (1)

Year	Entry
2003	Monclus-Gonzalez J, Marzougui D, Bahouth G, Eskandarian A. An investigation of side impact test methodologies for child restraint systems using finite element simulations. In: Proceedings of the 18th International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV). May 19-22, 2003; Nagoya, Japan.