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.
