Dummy kinematics and head containment in far-side impact of child restraint systems

Visvikis, Costandinos<sup>1</sup>; Müller, Thomas<sup>1</sup>; Thurn, Christoph<sup>1</sup>

Affiliations

¹CYBEX GmbH, Germany

Abstract and keywords

The assessment of child restraint systems in side impact has tended to focus on struck-side impact. However, far-side impact collisions also contribute to overall side impact injury rates. This study investigated the ability of different child restraint system designs to contain the head in far-side impact. Fourteen sled experiments were carried out with instrumented Q-Series dummies in a range of different child restraints, i.e., rear-facing, forward-facing, boosters. A test bench, used in European consumer (struck) side impact testing of child restraints, was mounted on the sled at 80° to the direction of travel. The sled acceleration pulse was derived from ISO/DTS 13396:2021.

Child restraint systems subject to a regulatory struck-side impact test achieved a basic level of performance in far-side impact. One exception was observed with the Q10 dummy in a booster seat. The struck-side regulatory requirements are reduced for this size dummy, which may have been a factor in the far-side performance we observed. There was a trade-off between the motion of the child restraint towards the far-side impact and head containment. Greater child restraint motion, particularly a sweeping motion around the vertical axis, was associated with better head containment than more limited rotation about the longitudinal axis only.

Keywords: Child occupant protection; child restraint systems; far-side impact; non-struck side impact

Links

URL: http://www.ircobi.org/wordpress/downloads/irc21/pdf-files/2161.pdf

Cited Works (6)

Year	Entry
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