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Cyclist injuries and fatalities are a world-wide concern and often a consequence of interaction with cars. The MICA2 Project (Modelling of Interactions between Cyclists and Automobiles) is aimed at protecting bicyclists from getting injured by a passing car. This study addresses the need for new protective safety systems through the development and testing of a novel external car airbag. The airbag was designed to add protection to the center side part of the car, in the B-pillar area, to protect the head of a bicyclist impacting a car in this area. Two methods were used to evaluate performance of the system. For full system tests, a Hybrid III 50th percentile male dummy was seated on a city bike and projected into the side of a car at either 30°, 60° or 90° to the car side. In additional component tests an adult pedestrian headform was launched towards the roof rail or B-pillar structure of the car.

Thoracic injuries are one of the main causes of fatalities and severe injuries in car crashes. The tools available today for studying these injuries are not up to par with the latest implementation of restraint systems and airbags. THORAX-FP7 is a collaborative medium scale project under the Seventh Framework. It focuses on the reduction and prevention of thoracic injuries through an improved understanding of the thoracic injury mechanisms and the implementation of this understanding in an updated design for the thorax-shoulder complex of the THOR dummy. The updated dummy should enable the design and evaluation of advanced restraint systems for a wide variety (gender, age and size) of car occupants.