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The potential effects of passenger air bag deployment on an out-of-position three-year-old child dummy and on a three-year-old child dummy in a child restraint system are two of the items considered in the development of an automotive passenger air bag restraint system. In order to increase our understanding of the passenger air bag and three-year-old dummy interaction, we have developed a three dimensional computer model of a three-year-old child dummy. The dummy model has a compressible sternum and a multi-segment representation of the neck which helps improve the predictive capabilities of the neck criteria. The dummy properties needed as inputs to the occupant model were all experimentally determined. An energy technique was used for separating the elastic, damping and friction components for each joint. Three HYGE sled test cases were simulated to validate the model.

The three dimensional crash victim simulation program, MADYMO 3D, was utilized to model the kinematics of a crash dummy. The crash dummy was modeled as a linkage system with a sliding contact between the pelvis and the lap belt to allow the simulation of submarining. For this study, submarining can be defined as the relative movement of the lap belt portion of an active or passive restraint system above the anterior superior iliac spine, ASIS, and onto the abdomen of the occupant. The results from the models were compared with results from generic rear seat HYGE sled tests. The results from the Hybrid II and Hybrid III dummy models were reasonably comparable to the sled test results. These dummy models were able to simulate the occurrence of submarining in the sled tests. The dummy models also were able to simulate trends in dummy accelerations once the times of submarining were matched.