Dynamic responses of female and male volunteers in rear impacts

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Linder, Astrid¹; Carlsson, Anna¹; Svensson, Mats Y.²; Siegmund, Gunter P.³

Dynamic responses of female and male volunteers in rear impacts

Traffic Inj Prev. 2008;9(6):592-599

©2008 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

Affiliations

¹VTI, Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute, Göteborg, Sweden

²Chalmers University, Göteborg, Sweden

³MEA Forensic Engineers & Scientists, Richmond, BC, Canada
Abstract and keywords

Objectives: Whiplash injuries from vehicle collisions are common and costly. These injuries most frequently occur as a result of a rear impact and, compared to males, females have up to twice the risk of whiplash-associated disorders (WAD) resulting from vehicle crashes. The present study focuses on the differences in the dynamic response corridors of males and females in low-severity rear impacts.

Methods: In this study, analysis of data from volunteer tests of females from previously published data has been performed. Corridors for the average female response were generated based on 12 volunteers exposed to a change of velocity of 4 km/h and 9 volunteers exposed to a change of velocity of 8 km/h. These corridors were compared to corridors for the average male response that were previously generated based on 11 male volunteers exposed to the same test conditions.

Results: Comparison between the male and female data showed that the maximum x-acceleration of the head for the females occurred on average 10 ms earlier and was 29% higher during the 4 km/h test and 12 ms earlier and 9% higher during the 8 km/h test. Head-to-head restraint contact for the females occurred 14 ms earlier at 4 km/h and 11 ms earlier at 8 km/h compared to the males. For the same initial head-to-head restraint distance, head restraint contact occurred 11 and 7 ms earlier for the females than the males at 4 and 8 km/h, respectively. Furthermore, the calculated Neck Injury Criteria (NIC) values were similar for males and females at 4 km/h, whereas they were lower for females compared to the males at 8 km/h (3.2 and 4.0 m²/s², respectively).

Conclusions: The results of this study highlight the need to further investigate the differences in dynamic responses between males and females at low-severity impacts. Such data are fundamental for the development of future computer models and dummies for crash safety assessment. These models can be used not only as a tool in the design and development process of protective systems but also in the process of further evaluation and development of injury criteria.

Keywords: Whiplash; Volunteers; Response Corridors; Crash Tests; Rear Impacts
Links

DOI: 10.1080/15389580802384669

PubMed: 19058107

WoS: 000261932000013
History

Received: 2008-05-02

Accepted: 2008-08-04

Online: 2008-12-4

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Cited By (10)

Year	Entry
2010	Schmitt K-U, Niederer PF, Muser MH, Walz F. Trauma Biomechanics: Accidental Injury in Traffic and Sports. 2nd ed. Deidelberg, Germany: Springer; 2010.
2011	Linder A, Svensson M, Carlsson A, Lemmen P, Chang F, Schmitt K-U, Kullgren A. EVARID: anthropometric and biomechanical specification of a finite element dummy model of an average female for rear impact testing. In: Proceedings of the 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV). June 13-16, 2011; Washington, DC.
2013	Lemmen P, Gupta A, Lakshminarayana A, Carlsson A, Svensson M, Schmitt K-U, Levallois I, Linder A, Tomasch E. Seat optimisation considering reduction of neck injuries for female and male occupants: applications of the EvaRID model and a loading device representing a 50th percentile female. In: Proceedings of the 23rd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV). May 27-30, 2013; Seoul, South Korea.
2010	Carlsson A, Siegmund GP, Linder A, Svensson M. Motion of the head and neck of female and male volunteers in rear impact car-to-car tests at 4 and 8 km/h. In: Proceedings of the 2010 International IRCOBI Conference on the Biomechanics of Impact. September 15-17, 2010; Hannover, Germany.29-39.
2012	Carlsson A, Chang F, Lemmen P, Kullgren A, Schmitt K, Linder A, Svensson MY. EvaRID: a 50th percentile female rear impact finite element dummy model. In: Proceedings of the 2012 International IRCOBI Conference on the Biomechanics of Injury. September 12-14, 2012; Dublin, Ireland.249-262.
2014	Sato F, Nakajima T, Ono K, Svensson M, Brolin K, Kaneoka K. Dynamic cervical vertebral motion of female and male volunteers and analysis of its interaction with head/neck/torso behavior during low‐speed rear impact. In: Proceedings of the 2014 International IRCOBI Conference on the Biomechanics of Injury. September 10-12, 2014; Berlin, Germany.227-249.
2015	Sato F, Nakajima T, Ono K, Svensson M, Kaneoka K. Characteristics of dynamic cervical vertebral kinematics for female and male volunteers in low‐speed rear impact, based on quasi‐static neck kinematics. In: Proceedings of the 2015 International IRCOBI Conference on the Biomechanics of Injury. September 9-11, 2015; Lyon, France.261-277.
2017	Cutcliffe HC, Ólafsdόttir JM, Ӧsth J, Davidsson J, Brolin K. Gender differences in occupant posture during driving and riding. In: Proceedings of the 2017 International IRCOBI Conference on the Biomechanics of Injury. September 13-15, 2017; Antwerp, Belgium.23-33.
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