The risk of head or chest injuries is usually evaluated by means of acceleration measurements using a dummy. Unfortunately, this data provides no information on load distribution over the contact areas which is often related to localized fractures of the bony structures. Therefore new methods of measuring local forces were developed:​

1. Pressure indicating devices attached to the dummy's surface are capable of monitoring the local pressure during impact;​ the foil's color change is interpreted by means of digital image analysis.
2. A velocity sensitive viscous tolerance criterion was calculated from the chest compression response of a Hybrid II dummy instrumented with strain gauges on the ribs.

The application of the advanced technique at laboratory tests clearly supports our experience of an improved injury protection through the use of airbag systems.