A modified steering wheel to reduce facial injuries and an associated test procedure

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Petty, S. P. F.¹; Fenn, M. A.¹

A modified steering wheel to reduce facial injuries and an associated test procedure

Proceedings of the 10th International Technical Conference on Experimental Safety Vehicles (ESV)

Affiliations

¹Transport and Road Research Laboratory, Department of Transport, Crowthorne, United Kingdom
Abstract

Frontal and oblique-frontal impacts are responsible for about two- thirds of car occupant injuries. In those impacts, the steering assembly has been identified as one of the components most frequently hit by the driver. An in-depth study of accident injury data for the Marina car was used to identify the mode of injury. Angled barrier impact test using an OPAT dummy as driver successfully reproduced the mode of injury.

With a 90 percent plus seatbelt wearing rate in the United Kingdom, it is desirable to develop a simple test procedure to reduce the aggressiveness of the steering wheel to the face and possibly to alleviate the deceleration pulse of the brain. A steering wheel test, based on the standard interior impact test, has been developed and evaluated on seven production car wheels and on a newly designed safer steering wheel. All the production wheels failed the test, but the safety steering wheel passed the suggested test level.
Links

SAE: 856052

Cited Works (4)

Year	Entry
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Cited By (18)

Year	Entry
1991	Fildes BN, Lane JC, Lenard J, Vulcan AP. Passenger Cars and Occupant Injury. Monash University Accident Research Centre, Cr95. Canberra, Australia: Federal Office of Road Safety; March 1991. Report No. CR95.
1987	Jarl T, Thorson J, Ostman A, Stenlund H, Svensson L. Occupational traffic injuries to truck occupants. In: 31st Annual Proceedings, Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine (AAAM). September 28-30, 1987; New Orleans, LA.201-213.
1988	Planath I, Nilsson S. Testing and evaluation of a Hybrid III load sensing face. In: 32nd Annual Proceedings, Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine (AAAM). September 12-14, 1988; Seattle, WA.187-201.
1994	Wasiowych A, Duignan P, Lozzi A. Assessing steering wheel impacts using a Hybrid III and deformable load sensing face. In: Proceedings of the 14th International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV). May 23-26, 1994; Munich, Germany.136-143.
1994	Yamazaki K, Sonoda N, Sakurai T, Matsui N. A study of impact test procedure for steering wheel to reduce facial injuries. In: Proceedings of the 14th International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV). May 23-26, 1994; Munich, Germany.520-527.
1985	Penoyre S. An impact test programme using six models of lower-medium-sized cars. In: Proceedings of the 10th International Technical Conference on Experimental Safety Vehicles (ESV). July 1-4, 1985; Oxford, England.357-362. SAE 856054.
1987	Hobbs CA, Lowne RW, Penoyre S, Petty SPF. Progress towards improving car occupant protection in frontal impacts. In: Proceedings of the 11th International Technical Conference on Experimental Safety Vehicles (ESV). May 12-15, 1987; Washington, DC.582-588.
1987	Saul RA. Steering column intrusion: restrained and unrestrained occupant effects. In: Proceedings of the 11th International Technical Conference on Experimental Safety Vehicles (ESV). May 12-15, 1987; Washington, DC.588-597.
1987	Hiley AD, Giles AR, Grew ND. Using computer analysis techniques in designing safer steering wheels. In: Proceedings of the 11th International Technical Conference on Experimental Safety Vehicles (ESV). May 12-15, 1987; Washington, DC.607-613.
1989	Clemo KC, Penoyre S, White MJ. Safer steering wheels to reduce face bone fractures. In: Proceedings of the 12th International Technical Conference on Experimental Safety Vehicles (ESV). May 29–June 1, 1989; Göteborg, Sweden.275-287.
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1989	Melvin JW, Shee TR. Facial injury assessment techniques. In: Proceedings of the 12th International Technical Conference on Experimental Safety Vehicles (ESV). May 29–June 1, 1989; Göteborg, Sweden.608-617.
1989	Yoganandan N, Sances A Jr, Pintar F, Harris G, Larson SJ, Mnhadevappa M. Three-dimensional computerized tomography analysis of steering wheel induced facial trauma. In: Proceedings of the 12th International Technical Conference on Experimental Safety Vehicles (ESV). May 29–June 1, 1989; Göteborg, Sweden.752-763.
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1987	Thomas P. Head and torso injuries to restrained drivers from the steering system. In: Proceedings of the 1987 International IRCOBI Conference on the Biomechanics of Impact. September 8-10, 1987; Birmingham, UK.73-89.
1988	Gallup BM, Hallgrimsson BH, Cotton CE, Smith TA, Newman JA, Dalmotas DJ. The development of an improved ATD headform with a frangible facial insert. In: Proceedings of the 1988 International IRCOBI Conference on the Biomechanics of Impact. September 14-16, 1988; Bergisch-Gladbach, West Germany.327-343.
1993	Thomas P, Bradford M. The nature and source of the head injuries sustained by restrained front seat occupants in frontal collisions. In: Proceedings of the 1993 International IRCOBI Conference on the Biomechanics of Impact. September 8-10, 1993; Eindhoven, The Netherlands.29-40.