Relative degradation of safety to children when automotive restraint systems are misused

Lalande, Simone; Legault, France; Pedder, Jocelyn

Affiliations

²RONA Kinetics and Associates Ltd., Canada

Abstract

This paper describes the results of a series of fortyfour dynamic sled tests simulating a 48 km/h frontal impact. Three convertible child restraints installed in the forward-facing mode were tested. The first used a 5-point harness system, the second a T-shield configuration, and the third an overhead shield system. The type of misuse was varied for each test and included: the amount of shoulder harness slack and/or twisting, seat belt and tether strap slack, seat belt routing, shoulder harness location, shoulder harness slot height, and chest clip use. An instrumented child anthropometric test dummy was installed in the restraints.

The results of the misuse testing showed that the most important degradation of safety resulted from pulling the test dummy’s arms through the shoulder harness. The second most important degradation of safety resulted from adding 3" of slack to the shoulder harness, to the tether strap and to the seat belt.

Links

URL: http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/pdf/esv/esv18/CD/Files/18ESV-000085.pdf

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Cited By (8)

Year	Entry
2015	Klinich KD, Manary MA. Best practice recommendations for protecting child occupants. In: Yoganandan N, Nahum AM, Melvin JW, eds. Accidental Injury: Biomechanics and Prevention. 3rd ed. New York: Springer; 2015:697-719.
2007	Brown J, Paine M, Paine D, Kelly P, Griffiths M, Magadera N, Haley J, Case M. Revised assessment protocols and scoring methods for the Australian child restraint evaluation program. In: Proceedings of the 20th International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV). June 18-21, 2007; Lyon, France.
2007	Pedder J, Hillebrandt D. The development and application of a child restraint usability rating system. In: Proceedings of the 20th International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV). June 18-21, 2007; Lyon, France.
2011	Tai A, Bilston LE, Brown J. The cumulative effect of multiple forms of minor incorrect use in forward facing child restraints on head injury risk. In: Proceedings of the 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV). June 13-16, 2011; Washington, DC.
2019	Tushak S, Maheshwari J, Belwadi A. Responses of the scaled infant human body model in simulated frontal motor vehicle crashes. In: Proceedings of the 26th International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV). June 10-13, 2019; Eindhoven, Netherlands.
2019	Mansfield JA. Investigation of Child Restraint System (CRS) Misuse: Passive and Active Educational Interventions [PhD thesis]. The Ohio State University; 2019.
2008	Brown J. The Aetiology and Mechanisms of Serious Injury in Restrained Child Occupants [PhD thesis]. University of New South Wales; 2008.
2017	Hall AB. A Novel User-Input and User-Testing Method for Designing Child Restraint Product Information to Reduce Misuse [PhD thesis]. University of New South Wales; December 2017.