Possible positions and postures of unrestrained front-seat children at instant of collision

Montalvo, F.; Bryant, R. W.; Mertz, H. J.

Affiliations

Abstract

The development of any front-seat passenger inflatable restraint system should consider the added deployment forces applied to occupants who may be close to the instrument panel at the time of deployment. A major factor influencing occupant position and posture is the effect of preimpact braking which often occurs prior to the collision. Most susceptibleto preimpactb raking are small, unrestrained children who can move off the front edge of the seat during hard braking and be near or against the instrument panel in a variety of different positions and postures at the instant of collision. Based on an analysis of hard-braking tests conducted with anesthetized baboons and child dummies, 13 positions are identified as being representative of the expected child positions. An estimate is given that, of the 149 small children (infants through four years old) expected to be unrestrained front-seat occupants in collisions of sufficient severity to deploy an inflatable restraint system per million car-years of exposure, 51 of them will be in one of these 13 positions near the instrument panel at the instant of collision.

Cited Works (3)

Year	Entry
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Cited By (5)

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.
1996	Prasad P, Laituri TR. Consideration for belted FMVSS 208 testing. In: Proceedings of the 15th International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV). May 13-16, 1996; Melbourne, Australia.389-400.
1982	Mertz HJ, Driscoll GD, Lenox JB, Nyquist GW, Weber DA. Responses of animals exposed to deployment of various passenger inflatable restraint system concepts for a variety of collision severities and animal positions. In: Proceedings of the 9th International Technical Conference on Experimental Safety Vehicles (ESV). November 1-4, 1982; Kyoto, Japan.352-368.
2009	Crandall J. Simulating the road forward: the role of computational modeling in realizing future opportunities in traffic safety. In: Proceedings of the 2009 International IRCOBI Conference on the Biomechanics of Impact. September 9-11, 2009; York, UK.3-27.
2013	Mertz HJ, Prasad P, Dalmotas D. Minimizing the injury potential of deploying airbag interactions with car occupants. Stapp Car Crash J. November 2013;57:v-xii.