Factors Influencing the Effectiveness of a Center-Mounted Airbag in Reducing Occupant Excursion and Injury Potential in High-Speed Lateral Impacts

A substantial percentage of serious and fatal injuries sustained by motor vehicle occupants occur in lateral impact collisions, and approximately one third of these injuries involve a far-side occupant. A center airbag, deploying inboard of the front seat occupants, has been integrated into certain vehicles to reduce far-side occupant excursion, to limit occupant interactions with the vehicle interior and/or another occupant, and to reduce occupant loading and injury potential. A series of sled tests was conducted to better understand the efficacy and limitations of a center airbag under a variety of high-speed lateral impact conditions in an environment outside of the production design. A production-level driver’s seat equipped with a seat-mounted center airbag was installed onto an open-air sled. A 50th percentile male SID H-3 was placed in the seat and restrained by a three-point seat belt equipped with retractor and buckle pretensioners. Vehicle PDOF, occupant position, and occupant compartment geometry were varied such that the influence of these factors on center airbag effectiveness could be evaluated. Tests were performed with and without a center airbag at 34.5 kph delta-V to evaluate occupant kinematics and kinetics. The reduction in lateral occupant excursion was most pronounced for the 90° PDOF impact with a nominally-seated occupant and a rigid center console. Testing further demonstrated that the effect of the rigid center console in reducing occupant excursion was more pronounced than the effect of the center airbag. Lateral excursion for an out-of-position occupant was effectively the same with and without center airbag deployment. While the center airbag has been shown to reduce excursion and injury potential within a specific production environment and for certain crash conditions, the results of this testing indicate that the benefit may not be universally extrapolated to all vehicle geometries or additional real-world crash conditions.