Car occupant safety is an increasing concern among car manufacturers, their suppliers, user organisations and legislative authorities. As for structural analysis, computer methods are more and more widely used to optimise the effectiveness of safety devices. However, no biofidelic numerical tools are currently available. Furthermore, there is a need for a future harmonisation of the methods and tools used. The HUMOS programme is a first step toward the development of commonly accepted models and computer methods. Fourteen partners were involved in this research programme, including car manufacturers, suppliers, software developers, universities and public research organisations. It was launched in December 1997 and is planned to be almost finished in March 2001.

The HUMOS programme though was conceived as a three-fold project:​

• Synthesis and completion the current knowledge of the human body in terms of geometry, kinematics behaviour, injury threshold and risk.
• Implementation of this knowledge in new human body models.
• Development of the utilities for the design office use, and delivering of the models available for their integration in the car design process.

A wide bibliographical review supported those major goals. Afterwards, the geometry acquisition of a midsized male in a car driver seated position was achieved. The main human body structures were then reconstructed using a CAD method and delivered to the so-called 'modelling partners'. The meshing of the different structures was achieved based on the CAD definition and led to models accounting for skin, bones, muscles as well as the main organs (lungs, heart, liver, kidneys, intestine etc.). The validation process was undertaken on a segment basis, each main part of the human body being confronted to the available literature results. The assembly of the whole model will be the conclusive part of this programme.