Necessities and possibilities of improving the protective effect of three-point seat belts

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Hontschik, Heinrich¹; Müller, Egbert¹; Rüter, Gert¹

Necessities and possibilities of improving the protective effect of three-point seat belts

Proceedings of the 21st Stapp Car Crash Conference

Affiliations

¹Pattelle-Institut e.V., (Germany)
Abstract

In the first phase of a research program covering more than 100 catapult-simulated frontal collisions at an impact speed of 50 km/h, the necessary improvements on safety belts were systematically ascertained:

The belt geometry must be adaptable to different body sizes and seating positions by adequate positioning of the seat belt anchorage points. The efficiency of the safety belt has to be improved by reducing the response time, i.e. the belt slack, on the one hand, and by adjusting its energy absorption to the survival space, the kinetic energy of the occupant and his threshold level on the other.

Now the second phase of work is covering an investigation of the following possibilities of improving the protective effect of the safety belt:

Integrated seat-belt system

Pyrotechnic pre-load device

Hydraulic load-limiting elements

The first experimental results have shown that these specific improvements can lead to a marked increase and thus to an optimization of the protective effect of safety belts. The investigations have also shown that optimum belt design can be achieved not only for persons of average size and weight, but also for persons of particularly small size and low weight as well as for tall and heavy persons.
Links

DOI: 10.4271/770933

SAE: 770933

Cited By (9)

Year	Entry
1995	Miller HJ. Injury reduction with smart restraint systems. In: 39th Annual Proceedings, Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine (AAAM). October 16-18, 1995; Chicago, IL.527-541.
2001	Sieveka EM, Kent RW, Crandall JR. Comparison of seat belt force-limiting methods using the MADYMO multi-body/finite element program. In: 45th Annual Proceedings, Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine (AAAM). September 24-26, 2001; San Antonio, TX.
2017	Pipkorn B, Wass J. Pre-crash triggered pretensioning of the seat belt for improved safety. In: Proceedings of the 25th International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV). June 5-8, 2017; Detroit, MI.
1980	Dejeammes M, Biard R, Derrien Y. Improvement of the automatic belt: the possible efficiency of the pyrotechnical retractor. In: Proceedings of the 8th International Technical Conference on Experimental Safety Vehicles (ESV). October 21-24, 1980; Wolfsburg, Germany.379-392.
1989	Harberl J, Ritzl F, Eichinger S. The effect of fully seat-integrated front seat belt systems on vehicle occupants in frontal crashes. In: Proceedings of the 12th International Technical Conference on Experimental Safety Vehicles (ESV). May 29–June 1, 1989; Göteborg, Sweden.1138-1145.
2003	Siegmund GP, Chimich DD, Heinrichs BE, DeMarco AL, Brault JR. Occupant responses to moderate frontal impacts vary with seat belt slack and anchor location. In: Proceedings of the 31st International Workshop on Human Subjects for Biomechanical Research. October 23, 2003; San Diego, CA.87-96.
1979	Rüter G, Hontschik H. Protection of occupants of commercial vehicles by integrated seat/belt systems. In: Proceedings of the 23rd Stapp Car Crash Conference. October 17-19, 1979; San Diego, CA. Warrendale, PA: Society of Automotive Engineers:3-16. SAE 791002.
1994	Nilson G. Effects of Seat and Seat-Belt Design on Car Occupant Response in Frontal and Rear Impacts: A Study Combining Mechanical and Mathematical Modelling [PhD thesis]. Götenburg, Sweden: Chalmers University of Technology; 1994.
2019	Holt CM. Understanding the Effects of Age and Safety Countermeasures on Occupant Kinematics in Low-Acceleration, Time-Extended Events [PhD thesis]. Drexel University; March 2019.