Are sidebags dangerous in certain seating positions?
Technical Paper
1998-13-0033
Published September 16, 1998 by International Research Council on Biokinetics of Impact in Switzerland
Sector:
Language:
English
Abstract
Testing with post mortem test subjects (PMTS) has been carried
out with different sidebag systems at the Institutes of Forensic
Medicine in Heidelberg and Hanover. Two systems, seat-mounted and
door-mounted, were tested in critical seating positions with
different testing procedures: static deployment tests, and dynamic
impact tests into the door. The PMTS, equipped with
three-dimensional accelerometers near the shoulder joint, the
wrist, the elbow, the thorax, and the pelvis, were examined after
the tests.
The experiments produced the following result: neither
significant additional injuries caused by the sidebag in the impact
tests nor significant injuries during the inflation test could be
observed by autopsy after the tests.
The goal of this study was to estimate the injury risk due to
worst case situations for the driver or passenger. Therefore, the
results may not be used for efficiency studies of sidebags.