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In this study, we first present a comparison between pelvis/upper leg injuries observed in real-world accidents as recorded in the database of the Medical University of Hanover, and the EEVC test results of corresponding cars as published by EuroNCAP. The fact that modern cars with rounded hood edges cause very few pelvis/upper leg injuries is discussed against the findings of the EEVC tests, where these cars do not perform significantly better than their older counterparts with sharper hood leading edges. This discrepancy could be due to the fact that the radius of the hood edge is not accounted for in the current version of the test protocol. In a second step, various impacts against several different simplified hood shapes were simulated using a detailed finite element model of a 50th percentile male pedestrian. The finite element model (THUMS) has been extensively validated against PMHS experiments in previous studies.

Traffic accident statistics as well as figures from insurance companies indicate an increasing importance of cervical spine injuries. Despite this fact, biomechanical and clinical assessment of these injuries (often classified “minor”) is often compromised by a confusion between the actual findings of the medical examination (for example, distortion, luxation, “soft tissue neck injury”, neck sprain, or other often barely discernible injuries) on one hand and the mechanisms leading to these injuries, such as (hyper-)-flexion, -extension, -translation, or compression, on the other hand. The still widespread, yet misleading, usage of the term “whiplash” is a classical example thereof. A subdivision of the criteria in terms of “accident severity” into four classes, for example dynamic loading of the car, biomechanical loading of the occupant, clinically diagnosable injuries, and subjective sequelae for the victim, is proposed.

Low-mass vehicles (LMV) are characterized by a total mass of 500 - 600 kg and an overall length of 2.5 m - 3.0 m. In order to provide sufficient transportation capacity, they should be relatively wide (1.7 m) and high (1.6 m). Occupant safety associated with such vehicles poses unique problems. According to published accident and injury statistics, a negative correlation exists between vehicle mass and injury severity in car-to-car crashes. In part, this finding can be attributed to the fact that small vehicles today are designed according to conventional design strategies involving however only a small frontal deformation zone and minimal side protection. For a LMV which is even smaller and lighter than present “small” cars another solution has to be found. A number of frontal and side impacts staged by our group with the aid of a LMV test device along with a mathematical model analysis indicate that a Rigid-Belt Body (RBB) represents a concept which is well suited for LMVs.

It is well established that properly worn seat belts reduce the incidence of severe neck injuries in car accidents in general. However, for certain configurations of nearside lateral collisions this statement has not been substantiated beyond any doubt by the published field accident data. In order to further evaluate this question, the samples of two accident investigation programs, one from Switzerland and one from France, were combined and analysed accordingly. They contain a total of 810 wearers of three point belts OAIS* > = 2, 98 of which are cases of lateral nearside impacts. In 10 % (N = 10) of this subset neck injuries of AIS >=1 were registered. 7 of those 10 cases were of a degree of AIS>=2 whereby 2 of them could directly be attributed to an immediate belt contact.