Car manufacturers are more and more concerned with the protection of the occupants in lateral impacts. Field accident analysis dealing with automotive side collisions suggest that the pelvis is very vulnerable, but there is a lack of knowledge of the behavior of the pelvic bony structure and of its biomechanical tolerance. This knowledge however is essential in order to optimize protection devices and car structures with regard to the security of the occupants.

An experimental study of the pelvic bony structure subjected to static and dynamic loads was carried out in order to document its biomechanical behavior and its injury threshold. 22 pelves were tested under side loading conditions. Displacements, applied force, and local strains of the pubic rami were obtained.

From this study, the main conclusions drawn out were:​

• A good agreement is observed between the real life observations and those coming from the in-vitro tests.
• Static fracture threshold is lower in this study than those reported for whole body tests, but is closed to Cesari static results.
• The dynamic fracture threshold is well bordered by the chosen energy level of impact, and consequently, a first corridor including the behavior of the pelvic bony structure up to the level of injury is proposed.