Study of chest injury risk probability within the seniors project for 45- and 65- year old car occupants using current and advanced restraint systems in sled test with THOR dummy

Fornells, Alba; Odriozola, Maria; Mensa, Genís; Mroz, Krystoffer; Eggers, Andre

Affiliations

³Federal Highway Research Institute (BASt), Germany

Abstract

From European accident data the proportion of fatal and severe crashes suffered by over 65 year old road users is increasing. In response to this, the SENIORS project [1] aims to improve the safety of elderly road users by determining appropriate requirements towards passive safety systems. The objective of this paper is to present the results obtained in frontal deceleration sled tests with the THOR (Test Device for Human Occupant Restraint) dummy using different restraint systems to compare the chest deflection for each of them. The frontal sled tests were performed at two speeds 56km/h and 35km/h with the THOR dummy as driver and co-driver following the test procedures defined in the SENIORS project. The different safety systems were used one by one at the low-speed deceleration to understand the effect on the dummy deceleration and chest deflection. The standard restraint systems – frontal airbag and seatbelts – were combined with advanced restraint systems for the driver – Knee airbag (KnAB), Pelvis restraint cushion (PRC) and the Driver Load Limiter Adaptive seatbelt (DLLA) – and for the co-driver position – Pelvis Restraint Cushion (PRC) and the Load Limiter Adaptive seatbelt (LLA). Then, at the higher speed deceleration pulse the basic restraint systems and the chosen combination of advanced safety systems were performed. It is aimed at comparing the chest deflection with the injury risk AIS3+ that is calculated from Rmax and PCA (Injury criteria) for a 45- and 65- year old person. The results observed showed that all the advanced restraint systems reduce the thorax injury risk for both ages 45 and 65 years old, however not always reducing all the IR-TRACC displacement but reducing the Rmax and the PCA calculations. It could also be observed that the most effective restraint system to reduce the thorax high injury for people over 65 years old is Load Limiter Adaptive seatbelt. In this study it can be concluded that with the current standard or advanced restraint systems the chest injury risk for elderly people over 65 years old is very high in high deceleration tests but is also important at lower decelerations. Moreover, the differences in position P1 and P3 are compared in this paper.

Links

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Cited Works (7)

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