Protection criteria aside from deflection are defined on the basis of measurement functions taken at various but unique points on the thorax (rib, spinal column); these functions may also use two points (two ribs, for example) which results in deflection intervening as a criterion.
The conditions imposed by these criteria result in different requirements for vehicle wall conditions and thorax model construction.
Mathematical modeling of the vehicle wall-thorax collision is performed in order to compare possible criteria on this basis.
Concurrently, a statistical analysis performed on a sampling of side impacts occurring with human subjects permits injury severity to be expressed by means of several functions whose predictive qualities are unequal. These functions include deflection, and their literal expression takes into account the state of the subjects' bone structure.
The criteria produced by these predictive functions are used in the preceding mathematical model. The possibility of optionally using different criteria is discussed.