Occupant's Safety by use of Variable Energy Absorbing Bumpers

When the gap between the seat belt and occupant's body is considered, it is of vital importance that the seat or the seat belt has sufficient energy absorbing functions. In this con-connection, it was found that the ideal energy absorbing pattern to stop the vehicle was to provide greater deceleration at the first phase of impact and less deceleration at the second phase to be followed by slightly greater deceleration at the last phase of impact. The authors proposed and designed a special bumper capable of simulating this ideal deceleration pattern applicable over a wide range of pre-collision velocities. The performance of the new bumper was verified by a series of experiments using a test vehicle with a belted dummy.