This content is not included in
your SAE MOBILUS subscription, or you are not logged in.
Kinematics, Injury Mechanisms and Design Considerations for Older Children in Adult Torso Belts
Technical Paper
2001-01-0173
ISSN: 0148-7191, e-ISSN: 2688-3627
Annotation ability available
Sector:
Event:
SAE 2001 World Congress
Language:
English
Abstract
A gap in protection appears to exist for older children who have outgrown booster seats and are placed in some adult, 3-point belts with fixed shoulder belt anchorage points. Boys on average do not reach the 50th percentile adult, male seated height until age 15 ½ and the average girl never reaches this height. The published minimum seated height and weight thresholds for use of three-point belts alone are inconsistent with the official recommendations by The National Transportation Safety Board and the majority of state seat belt laws. A shoulder belt with a fixed upper anchorage, which is typical in the rear occupant space, may create torso belt routing that can allow rollout from the shoulder belt in frontal oblique collisions. A belt trajectory that passes across the neck of an older child may create an artificial fulcrum in the cervical spine resulting in quadriplegia. Excessive webbing lengths can promote child occupant excursion, rebound and injurious head contact. The differences in older child protection reported in U.S. versus Australian car crashes suggest that safety improvements may be achieved with more rigorous state legislation and improved torso belt restraints, which appropriately accommodate both children and adults (i.e. “size-appropriate restraints”) in all positions occupied by child passengers. Further studies are indicated to fully elucidate the scope of the problem in U.S. crashes and the effectiveness of recommended design and public policy interventions.
Recommended Content
Authors
Citation
Bidez, M. and Syson, S., "Kinematics, Injury Mechanisms and Design Considerations for Older Children in Adult Torso Belts," SAE Technical Paper 2001-01-0173, 2001, https://doi.org/10.4271/2001-01-0173.Also In
References
- Haseltine, Philip Blue Ribbon Panel II: Protecting Our Older Child Passengers The American Coalition for Traffic Safety, Inc. March 15 1999
- 761 762 May 1996
- Agran, Phyllis F. et al, Restraint Use Among Children in Fatal Crashes SAE 973300
- Stucki, Lee NASS Analysis of Child Seat Use February 2000
- Decina, L.E. Knoebel K.Y. Patterns of Misuse of Child Safety Seats January 1996
- National Safe Kids Campaign Occupant Protection Laws Across the Nation Washington, D.C Summer 2000
- Klinich, K.D. Pritz, H.B. Beebe, M.S. Welty, K.E. Survey of Older Children in Automotive Restraints SAE 942222
- Klinich, Kathleen, et al Study of Older Child Restraint/Booster Seat Fit and NASS Injury Analysis November 1994
- Rogers, Robert A. Silver, Jeffrey N. Elements of an Effective Child Restraint System 10 th Stapp Car Crash Conference, SAE 680776 October 1968
- Henderson, M. Children in car crashes: an in-depth study of car crashes in which child occupants were injured New South Wales Australia June 1994
- Gotschall, C.S. Bents, F.D. Khaewpong, N. Sturm, P.F. Sivit, C.J. Elchelberger, M.R. 299
- Sturtz G. Biomechanical Data of Children SAE 801313
- Lane, J.C. The Seat Belt Syndrome in Children SAE 933098
- Doersch, K.B. Dozier, W.E. The Seat Belt Sydrome – The Seat Belt Sign, Intestinal and Mesenteric Injuries The Amer. J. Surg. 116 831 833 1968
- Asbun, H.J. Irani, H. Roe, E.J. Bloch, J.H. Intra-abdominal Seatbelt Injury J. Trauma 30 2 189 193 1990
- Williams, Allan F. Wong, Jackson C. O’Neill, Brian Occupant Protection in Interior Impacts – An Analysis of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 201 23 rd Annual Conference, AAAM 1979
- Slavik, D.H. Cervical Distraction Injuries to Children SAE 973306
- Dejeammes, M. Tarriere, C. Thomas, C. Kallieris, D. Exploration of Biomechanical Data Towards a Better Evaluation of Tolerance for Children Involved in Automotive Accidents SAE 840530
- White, A.A. Panjabi, M.M. Clinical Biomechanics of the Spine J. B. Lippincott Company Philadelphia, PA 1990 98
- Sullivan, Lisa K., et al Evaluation of Devices to Improve Shoulder Belt Fit 1994
- Morgan, Christine M. Effectiveness of Lap/Shoulder Belts in the Back Outboard Seating Positions 1999
- Padmanaban, Jeya Davis, Martin Re-Evaluation of Rear Seat Restraint System Effectiveness in Preventing Fatalities, Using Recent Fatal Accident Data 43 rd Annual Proceedings of the Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine (AAAM) September 1999
- www.nhtsa.dot.gov/people/injury/airbags/presbelt/
- Isaakson-Hellman, Irene, et al Trends and Effects of Child Restraint Systems Based on Volvo’s Swedish Accident Database Child Occupant protection, 2 nd Symposium Proceedings, P316, SAE 973229
- Henderson, Michael, M.D. Children in Adult Seats and Child Harnesses: Crash Sled Comparisons of Dummy Responses SAE 973308
- Svensson, Lars G. Means for Effective Improvement of the Three-Point Seat Belt in Frontal Crashes Twenty Second Stapp Car Crash Conference, SAE 780898
- Hontschik, Heinrich, et al Necessities and Possibilities of Improving the Protective Effect of Three-Point Seat Belts Twenty First Stapp Car Crash Conference, SAE 770933
- Edwards, Jack Sullivan, Kaye Where are all the children seated and how are they restrained? SAE 971550 May 1 1997
- American Academy of Pediatrics 2000 Family Shopping Guide to Car Seats 2000
- Viano, D.C. Sudhakar, A. Assessing the Safety Performance of Occupant Restraint Systems SAE 902328 November 1990