Neck Injury Prevention in Low Speed Rear Impact

Head restraint has become an important element in seat design due to the severity of neck injuries in rear-end collisions. The objective of this paper is to present an analytical and efficient approach to assist engineers in analyzing the design parameters of the seat and head restraint system. The CAE simulation models with Bio-RID dummy were assembled to correlate to 10 mph rear impact sled tests. The correlated models were then adopted in Design of Experiment (DOE) studies to explore all the significant design parameters influencing occupant neck injuries. Based on the results from the DOE studies, we are able to improve the seat and head restraint designs for reducing the risk of neck injuries in rear-end impacts.