Inflatable shoulder belts and inboard upper anchor shoulder‐belt geometry in far‐side oblique impacts

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Edwards, Marcy A.¹; Nash, Carl E.²

Inflatable shoulder belts and inboard upper anchor shoulder‐belt geometry in far‐side oblique impacts

Proceedings of the 2017 International IRCOBI Conference on the Biomechanics of Injury

Affiliations

¹Insurance Institute for Highway Safety in Ruckersville, Virginia, USA

²Center for Auto Safety in Washington, D.C.
Abstract and keywords

Vehicle occupants in far‐side oblique impacts are at risk of head and thorax injury due to impacts with interior structures and with near‐side occupants after slipping out of the shoulder belt. This study evaluated the effects of inflatable seat belts, along with inboard vs. outboard and B‐pillar vs. seat‐integrated shoulder‐belt anchorage locations, on Hybrid III and THOR‐ M dummy kinematics and injury metrics in simulated far‐side oblique crashes. Seven simulated crashes were conducted, with a 45° principal direction of force and a 55 km/h velocity change with 23 g peak acceleration. Shoulder‐belt upper anchorage location and belt type influenced the tendency for the dummy to slip out of the belt and subsequent occupant excursion. The inboard seat‐integrated inflatable belt restraint system had the greatest influence, eliminating Hybrid III shoulder‐belt slip out and decreasing excursion by 331 mm, compared with the conventional production B‐pillar‐mounted belt. The inflatable belt also showed potential to mitigate neck injuries, with low dummy injury metrics and distributed loading area.

Keywords: Far‐side, Inflatable seat belts, Oblique impacts, Reverse geometry seat belts, Seat belts
Links

URL: http://www.ircobi.org/wordpress/downloads/irc17/pdf-files/56.pdf

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2019	Jermakian JS, Edwards MA, Fein S, Maltese MR. Factors Contributing to Serious and Fatal Injuries in Belted Rear-Seat Occupants in Frontal Crashes. Arlington, VA: Insurance Institute for Highway Safety; April 2019.
2019	Östling M, Larsson A. Occupant activities and sitting positions in automated vehicles in China and Sweden. In: Proceedings of the 26th International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV). June 10-13, 2019; Eindhoven, Netherlands.
2019	Östling M, Lubbe N, Jeppsson H, Puthan P. Passenger car safety beyond ADAS: defining remaining accident configurations as future priorities. In: Proceedings of the 26th International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV). June 10-13, 2019; Eindhoven, Netherlands.
2020	Becker J, D’Addetta GA, Wolkenstein M, Bosma F, Verhoeve R, Schaub S, Sprenger M, Hamacher M. Occupant safety in highly automated vehicles: challenges of rotating seats in future crash scenarios. In: Proceedings of the 2020 International IRCOBI Conference on the Biomechanics of Injury. 2020; Munich, Germany.381-397.