A Human Body Model Study on Restraints for Side-Facing Occupants in Frontal Crashes of an Automated Vehicle

This study was to investigate kinematics and responses of side-facing seated occupants in frontal crashes of an automated minivan using Global Human Body Models Consortium (GHBMC) simplified occupant models (50^th%ile male and 5^th%ile female), and to develop new restraint concepts to protect the occupants. The latest GHBMC M50-OS and F05-OS models (version 2.2) were further validated with Postmortem Human Subject (PMHS) side sled tests [7]. Robustness and biofidelity of the GHBMC human models, especially for the pelvis region, were enhanced. Using the update M50-OS and F05-OS models, we evaluated the body kinematics and injury measures of the side-facing seated occupants in frontal crashes of a minivan at severities ranging from 24 kph (15 mph) to 56 kph (35 mph). Three restraint configurations were studied: 1) no restraint; 2) lap belt only; 3) lap and head/torso restraints. Parametric studies on the restraint configurations and design parameters of each restraint were performed to mitigate the occupant injury risks of the body regions of head, chest, abdomen, pelvis and knee-thigh-hip. The results showed that the occupant kinematics and responses differed significantly with the occupant size, crash severity, and restraint conditions. The lap restraint alone did not prevent high injury risks of occupants in the frontal crashes at severities of more than 40kph (25mph). The conceptual lap and head/torso restraints improved the occupant kinematics and greatly reduced the injury risks.