There is a clear need to further develop the design and biofidelity of the 6-YearOld ATDs for future child safety research and child occupant protection in side impacts. Due to the scarcity of pediatric PMHS impact testing, specifically in the lateral direction, alternative means of obtaining relevant data for pediatric models need to be considered.

In this first portion of this study, assessment of the mechanical behavior and biofidelity of existing 6-Year-Old ATDs in lateral impact were performed. None of the three 6-year-old ATDs (HIII, Q6, and Q6s) tested were found to be considered good tools for assessing side impact occupant protection.

In the second portion of this study, evaluation of material properties and thorax and abdominal region biofidelity response in lateral impact for porcine subjects that were matched for age and torso size to the human 3-Year-Old, 6-Year-Old, 10-YearOld, and 50th Percentile Adult male was performed. Lateral impact force response of the porcine surrogate equivalents thorax and abdomen regions were found to be consistent with the ISO human scaled lateral impact response corridors presented in Irwin et al. (2002) and van Rantingen et al (1997).

In the third portion of this study, test response ratios for force, deflection, acceleration, and time for the 3-year-old, 6-year-old, 10-year-old, and 50th adult male porcine surrogate equivalents from the thorax and abdomen lateral pendulum impacts were obtained, and 50th adult male swine impact response corridors were scaled to the 10-year-old, 6-year-old, and 3-year-old swine to assess current scaling laws. It was determined that scaling laws can be applied to appropriate weight and breed porcine surrogates, using human skull elastic modulus values established and provided in Irwin et al. (2002), to provide a viable and powerful impact test model alternative for child safety research in lateral impacts.