Influence of Pre-Crash Vehicle Maneuvers on Front Passenger Safety Performance Response

Pre-crash vehicle maneuvers are known to affect occupant posture and kinematics, which consequently may influence injury risks during a collision. In this study, the influence of pre-crash vehicle maneuvers on the injury risks of front-seated occupants during a frontal crash was numerically evaluated. A generic buck vehicle model was developed based on a publicly available FE model, which included the vehicle interior and the front passenger airbag (PAB). The pre-crash phase was simulated using specific rigid-body human models with active joints (GHBMCsi-pre models) developed based on exterior shapes of the simplified deformable human model (GHBMCsi) representing a 50th male subject. Two pre-crash maneuvers representing (1) a generic 1g braking and (2) turning-and-braking scenarios were simulated. Then, the kinematics data of belted GHBMCsi-pre models were transferred using a developed switch algorithm to the corresponding GHBMCsi models, which can predict occupant injury risks. Finally, an FMVSS 208 pulse (NCAP pulse with delta V of 56 km/h) was applied to simulate the in-crash phase. Injury metrics were recorded for the belted GHBMCsi model to evaluate the passenger injury risks. Overall, it was concluded that pre-crash braking decreased the severity of injury sustained by the passenger. The success of the methodology used in this study, to simulate reasonable and computationally efficient pre-crash and in-crash phases, suggests using it for more advanced studies where additional parameters (e.g., BMI, age, etc.) could also be taken into consideration.