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Accident studies indicate that serious neck injuries are generally infrequent in side crashes. However, given the rapid changes in side impact protection technology, such as side airbags and curtain systems, the nature of head-neck interactions is likely to change. Consequently, the newest generation of anthropomorphic test devices for side impact should provide realistic prediction of the head-neck kinematics and include meaningful measurements related to risk of head and neck injury. The WorldSID dummy has been assessed against a set of five test conditions that have been used to define biofidelity impact response targets. Three of the five test conditions are recommended by ISO TR9790 (ISO 1997), the NBDL 7.2 G, 6.9 m/s lateral sled impact reported by Ewing et al. (1977) and Wismans et al. (1986), the Patrick and Chou lateral, 6.7 G 5.8 m/s (1976) and Tarriere lateral 12.2 g, 6,1 m/s sled impact (ISO 1997).

Whiplash injuries due to rear-end car collisions is one of the most aggravating traffic safety problems with serious implications for the European society. Yearly more than a million European citizens suffer neck injuries from rear-end car collisions, implying tremendous societal costs. Therefore the European Community has sponsored the European Whiplash project. The objective of this paper is to present a general overview of this project. Accident studies show the relevance of rear-impact- related whiplash injuries and representative rear impact conditions in which whiplash is likely to occur. For the development of a Rear Impact Dummy (RID) typical human responses to rear impact are needed and were obtained with human volunteer and Post Mortem Human Subject tests at low speeds. Accident reconstructions were performed in order to derive injury thresholds for the dummy.