This paper describes the development of a new thorax protector as part of the personal protective equipment for motorcyclists. The function of the protector is the mitigation of injuries in impacts to the frontal or lateral parts of the thorax. A sandwich structure was selected. The outer shell of polypropylene was designed to spread concentrated impact forces, a shock absorbing aluminium honeycomb material was coupled with a comfort layer for the inner part of the protector.

The materials were characterized and an FE model was created for impact simulations with the HUMOS2 model. Frontal and lateral impact tests against which the HUMOS2 model had previously been validated were simulated. The simulations highlighted that the main benefit of such a device is derived from the force distribution and that the shock absorbing material provides smaller contribution to the protector’s performance.

After a pre-selection of the design variants by means of simulation, a series of thorax protector prototypes were manufactured and tested in terms of comfort (ergonomic tests) and impact protection. Ergonomic tests confirmed the quality of the design, showing that the protector does not interfere with the normal rider’s movements. A series of frontal impact tests using the Hybrid III Dummy was carried out. It was concluded that the protector reduces the compression of the thorax and the probability of sustaining rib fractures in the analysed impact conditions and thus reduces the potential injury risk.