The cervical spine of young children is normally very mobile. Consequently,relatively little force is required to cause subluxation of the cervical vertebrae. In this respect, the incidence of cervical spine injuries in children involved in car accidents seems to be surprisingly low. However, recent European data seem to indicate that serious cervical spine injuries occur more frequently than had previously been thought. In particular, small children seated in forward facing restraint systems with a harness belt appear to be at risk from tetraplegia in moderate frontal impacts.
To investigate the significance of these findings, TNO has undertaken a research programme to measure the neck loads induced in TNO-P3/4 child dummies seated in various types of restraint system. A series of dynamic sled tests has been performed in which the neck loads induced in a TNO dummy have been measured using a special transducer, which replaces the Atlas-Axis block of the dummy. The design of this transducer and the test results that have been obtained to date are discussed in detail in the present paper. Special attention is focused on how the misuse of restraint systems can affect neck loads, and on the influence of different seating positions. In addition, consideration is given to the significance of free flexural/extensional motions of the P3/4 head. Finally, forward facing and rearward facing systems are compared with each other and child dummy neck loads contrasted with proposed adult tolerance limits.
In parallel with the experimental work, a series of mathematical simulations has been performed, using the MADYMO CVS programme. These analyses have been aimed at studying the effect of chin-to-chest contacts and assessing the impact of headlneck joint characteristics on neck loads. A "Design of Experiments" programme allowing systematic parameter variations has been used to analyse the significance of various test and design parameters.