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Dynamic response of the Hybrid III 3-year-old dummy head and neck during side air bag loading
Technical Paper
1998-12-0012
Published October 05, 1998 by Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine in United States
Sector:
Language:
English
Abstract
This paper presents the results from fourteen (n = 14) tests
designed to evaluate the response and injury potential of a Hybrid
III 3-year-old dummy subject to loading by a deploying seat-mounted
side air bag. An instrumented Hybrid III 3-year-old dummy was used
for tests in two different occupant positions chosen to maximize
head and neck loading. Four seat-mounted thoracic side air bags
were used that varied only in the level of inflator output.
NHTSA''s neck injury criteria for complex loading, referred
to as Nij, was modified to include moment values for both
anteroposterior and lateral directions. The results of this testing
indicate that side air bag loading can result in forces and moments
approaching injury threshold values. While there is considerable
uncertainty as to the validity of published injury criteria due to
the lack of child biomechanical data, this study demonstrates the
sensitivity of child response to initial position which may provide
insight into placement and geometry of side air bag systems.
Furthermore, the data indicate a relationship between air bag
inflator properties and child dummy response for a given air bag
geometry.
Recently, automobile manufacturers have begun implementing side
air bags as a safety feature to mitigate injuries resulting from
side-impact collisions. Unlike the case for the passenger side air
bag, the injury potential to an out-of-position child in side air
bag loading has not been presented in the literature. The purpose
of this research is to evaluate the response of a Hybrid III
3-year-old dummy subject to loading by a deploying side air
bag.