Evaluation of Occupant Kinematics in Low- to Moderate-Speed Frontal and Rear-End Motor Vehicle Collisions

Low- to moderate-speed motor vehicle collisions are a common crash type and are sometimes associated with injury complaints. Understanding occupant motion (kinematics) in response to low- and moderate-speed motor vehicle collisions is important for evaluating occupant interactions with interior vehicle structures, including the restraint systems, with the ultimate goal of assessing injury potential. Furthermore, quantitative occupant kinematic data from full-scale crash testing of late-model passenger vehicles is limited for collisions at low- to moderate-speeds. The current study reports kinematic data from full-scale frontal and rear-end crash tests of late-model, mid-size sedans with delta-Vs ranging from 6.0 to 19.0 kph (3.7 to 11.8 mph) and 5.6 to 19.5 kph (3.5 to 12.1 mph), respectively. For each test vehicle, the motion of a Hybrid III 50^th-percentile male anthropomorphic test device (ATD) restrained in the driver seat was recorded using high-speed onboard video. Motion tracking of the video was used to evaluate the excursion and velocity of each ATD’s head, shoulder, elbow, and knee with respect to the vehicle interior. Restraint loads were recorded via load cells placed on the driver’s torso and lap belts. For both the frontal and rear-end collisions, the maximum excursion and velocity of the ATD with respect to the occupant compartment generally increased with increasing delta-V. During the occupant rebound phase of the rear-end collisions, the maximum excursion and velocity of the ATD also generally increased with increasing delta-V and was generally less than its initial rearward excursion and velocity.