Adaptive side impact restraints using intrusion based crash sensing and discrimination

Cech, Len; Helleman, Henk; Schiefele, Markus; Hu, Jialou; Rice, Debby; Heudorfer, Benedikt; Kraft, Michael

Affiliations

¹TK Holdings Inc., United States

Abstract

State of the art frontal airbag systems provide adaptive features such as multi-stage deployment and active or passive venting based on occupant position, stature, crash mode and severity. Research was done to understand the potential of reducing injuries and fatalities by applying a similar methodology to side impact protection.

Adaptive restraints have been proposed for side impact protection, however, the sensors and discrimination methods available for side crash detection, have, in general, not provided sufficient time and information to effectively apply these adaptations. However, recent analysis of an alternative magnetic field based crash sensor (MSI) has shown that this sensing concept provides crash mode and severity at very fast times which could allow a second triggering event for situation adapted protection. Using CAE tools it is shown how the improved triggering times can be employed and how much potential protection benefit can be gained by using various active adaptive restraint concepts.

To demonstrate the concept, MSI sensor data was analyzed for a series of crash and abuse tests to determine estimates of crash severity and mode at practical airbag deployment times for several deployment situations. The paper reviews the techniques used to process the MSI Data. The derived deployment times, along with severity and mode estimates, are used to demonstrate the effectiveness of several candidate active adaptive restraints compared with standard restraints.

In conclusion it is seen that adaptive side protection is worth consideration, and not only because the future requirements are expected to become more complex and demanding. However, these improvements do not come free of cost and therefore the pro and cons will have to be balanced very well.

Links

URL: http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/pdf/esv/esv20/07-0368-W.pdf

Cited Works (5)

Year	Entry
2001	Holding PN, Chinn BP, Happian-Smith J. An evaluation of the benefits of active restraint systems in frontal impacts through computer modelling and dynamic testing. In: Proceedings of the 17th International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV). June 4-7, 2001; Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
2005	Arbelaez RA, Baker BC, Nolan JM. Delta Vs for IIHS side impact crash tests and their relationship to real-world crash severity. In: Proceedings of the 19th International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV). June 6-9, 2005; Washington, DC.
2005	McNeill A, Haberl J, Holzner M, Schoeneburg R, Strutz T, Tautenhahn U. Current worldwide side impact activities: divergence versus harmonisation and the possible effect on future car design. In: Proceedings of the 19th International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV). June 6-9, 2005; Washington, DC.
2005	Cech L, Watson T, Schiefele M, Aoki H. Active magnetic field based sensing system for improved detection and discrimination of side impact crashes. In: Proceedings of the 19th International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV). June 6-9, 2005; Washington, DC.
2005	Neale M, Couper G, Bosch-Rekveldt M, Brandse J. A numerical investigation into the effectiveness of "smart" restraint systems in mitigating injury risk under "real world" accident conditions. In: Proceedings of the 19th International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV). June 6-9, 2005; Washington, DC.