Development of a Combined Thoracic Injury Criterion - A Revisit

The development of a biomechanics assessment criterion through statistical processes is reviewed. Effect of combined parameters on the overall assessment criterion outcome is also investigated. Seventy-one frontal impact sled tests available in the literature are analyzed in detail. The focus of this paper is on the potential pitfalls of using statistical processes to determine bimechanical assessment criterion without careful evaluation of the underlying data, the limitations of the statistical process and the physical meaning of the results. Although, the focus of this paper is on the thorax and the logistic analysis, the results should be robust enough to apply to other statistical procedures and other bimechanical data.

Limitations of the statistical treatment used are examined and interpretations of these limitations on the overall criterion are explained.