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The effects of seatbelt use, muscle tension, lower-extremity posture, driver fore-aft seat position, seat height, and seat angle on the likelihood of knee, thigh, and hip (KTH) injuries during knee-to-knee-bolster impacts in frontal crashes were studied using a finite element (FE) human model. A midsize male whole-body FE model, with a previously validated knee-impact response, was further validated in this study against whole-body responses from two sets of cadaver sled tests. This human model was integrated with vehicle instrument panel, seat, and restraint-system models. An FMVSS 208 crash pulse of a passenger car was used to evaluate the effects of the aforementioned factors on the risk of KTH injuries. Simulation results indicated that seatbelts significantly reduced peak forces generated at the knee, in the thigh, and at the hip, and thereby reduced the risk of KTH injuries.

Among all the vehicle rollover test procedures, the SAE J2114 dolly rollover test is the most widely used. However, it requires the test vehicle to be seated on a dolly with a 23° initial angle, which makes it difficult to test a vehicle over 5,000 kg without a dolly design change, and repeatability is often a concern. In the current study, we developed and implemented a new dynamic rollover test methodology that can be used for evaluating crashworthiness and occupant protection without requiring an initial vehicle angle. To do that, a custom cart was designed to carry the test vehicle laterally down a track. The cart incorporates two ramps under the testing vehicle’s trailing-side tires. In a test, the cart with the vehicle travels at the desired test speed and is stopped by a track-mounted curb.

Seat comfort is driven in part by the fit between the sitter and seat. Traditional anthropometric data provide little information about the size and shape of the torso that can be used for backrest design. This study introduces a methodology for using three-dimensional computer models of the human torso based on a statistical analysis of body shapes for conducting automated fit assessments. Surface scan data from 296 men and 417 women in a seated posture were analyzed to create a body shape model that can be adjusted to a range of statures, body shape, and postures spanning those typical of vehicle occupants. Finite-element models of two auto seat surface were created, along with custom software that generates body models and postures them in the seat. A simple simulation technique was developed to rapidly assess the fit of the torso relative to the seat back.

In this study, two sled series were conducted with a sled buck representing a compact vehicle. The first series of tests focused on the effects of crash pulse, impact angle, occupant size, and front seat location on rear seat occupant restraint with a generic rear-seat belt system without pre-tensioner or load limiter. The second series of tests focused on investigating the benefit of using advanced features for rear-seat occupant restraint in the most severe crash condition in the first sled series. The first series of tests include 16 test conditions with two impact angles (0° and 15°), two sled pulse (soft and severe), and four ATD sizes (HIII 6YO, HIII 5th female, HIII 95th male, and THOR-NT) with two ATDs in each test. The driver seat was located at the mid position, while the front passenger seat was positioned such that a constant distance between the ATD knee and the front seat is achieved.

The seatbelt system, originally designed for protecting occupants in frontal crashes, has been reported to be inadequate for preventing occupant head-to-roof contact during rollover crashes. To improve the effectiveness of seatbelt systems in rollovers, in this study, we reviewed previous literature and proposed vertical head excursion corridors during static inversion and dynamic rolling tests for human and Hybrid III dummy. Finite element models of a human and a dummy were integrated with restraint system models and validated against the proposed test corridors. Simulations were then conducted to investigate the effects of varying design factors for a three-point seatbelt on vertical head excursions of the occupant during rollovers. It was found that there were two contributing parts of vertical head excursions during dynamic rolling conditions.

This study documented the position and orientation of child restraint systems (CRS) installed in the second rows of vehicles, creating a database of 486 installations. Thirty-one different CRS were evaluated, selected to provide a range of manufacturers, sizes, types, and weight limits. Eleven CRS were rear-facing only, fourteen were convertibles, five were combination restraints, and one was a booster. Ten top-selling vehicles were selected to provide a range of manufacturers and body styles: four sedans, four SUVS, one minivan, and one wagon. CRS were marked with three reference points on each moving component. The contours and landmarks of each CRS were first measured in the laboratory. Vehicle interior contours, belt anchors, and LATCH anchors were measured using a similar process. Then each CRS was installed in a vehicle using LATCH according to manufacturers' directions, and the reference points of each CRS component were measured to document the installed orientation.

The objective of this study was to optimize the occupant restraint systems for a light tactical vehicle in frontal crashes. A combination of sled testing and computational modeling were performed to find the optimal seatbelt and airbag designs for protecting occupants represented by three size of ATDs and two military gear configurations. This study started with 20 sled frontal crash tests to setup the baseline performance of existing seatbelts, which have been presented previously; followed by parametric computational simulations to find the best combinations of seatbelt and airbag designs for different sizes of ATDs and military gear configurations involving both driver and passengers. Then 12 sled tests were conducted with the simulation-recommended restraint designs. The test results were further used to validate the models. Another series of computational simulations and 4 sled tests were performed to fine-tune the optimal restraint design solutions.

Current finite element (FE) human body models (HBMs) generally only represent young and mid-size male occupants and do not account for body shape and composition variations among the population. Because it generally takes several years to build a whole-body HBM, a method to rapidly develop HBMs with a wide range of human attributes (size, age, obesity level, etc.) is critically needed. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of using a mesh morphing method to rapidly generate skeleton and whole-body HBMs based on statistical geometry targets developed previously. THUMS V4.01 mid-size male model jointly developed by Toyota Motor Corporation and Toyota Central R&D Labs was used in this study as the baseline HBM to be morphed. Radial basis function (RBF) was used to morph the baseline model into the target geometries.

We have recently obtained experimental data and used them to develop computational models to quantify occupant impact responses and injury risks for military vehicles during frontal crashes. The number of experimental tests and model runs are however, relatively small due to their high cost. While this is true across the auto industry, it is particularly critical for the Army and other government agencies operating under tight budget constraints. In this study we investigate through statistical simulations how the injury risk varies if a large number of experimental tests were conducted. We show that the injury risk distribution is skewed to the right implying that, although most physical tests result in a small injury risk, there are occasional physical tests for which the injury risk is extremely large. We compute the probabilities of such events and use them to identify optimum design conditions to minimize such probabilities.