This paper presents the results from a project based on an anatomical study to improve the knowledge of the human anatomy for a belted car occupant.

The four phases for data collection consists of :​

• the selection of a cadaver placed in a car seat.
• the realisation of a set of physical cross sections
• anatomical identification of organs seen on each section
• computer analysis and visualisation of organs. General methods, from physical sections to 3D computer generated reconstruction were presented in [Chabert96].

The purpose of this present paper is to provide a geometrical description of a human body in the seat belt posture.

Many skeletal landmarks are viewed with reference to the H point, in the vehicle coordinate system. The pelvis and thoracic bones are seen with the seat belt below. The geometry of the spine is described by the 3D position of the centres of each vertebral body. The curvature, which is given by the angles between each vertebral axis along the spine is compared to an X-ray study performed on living volunteers. The anatomic results, which refer to a male PMHS closed to the 50” percentile, should be interesting in the fields of ergonomics, anthropometric dummy design and biomechanics.