While frontal airbags are credited with saving the lives of
thousands of drivers and passengers, they have been linked to the deaths of
children as well as adults. The
vast majority of the fatalities involve occupants that were not properly
restrained and out of position at the time of airbag deployment. The purpose of this study is to investigate the interaction
between a deploying frontal airbag and an out of position occupant.
In particular, The ISO-1 and ISO-2 are positions that are intended to
maximize loading to the head/neck region and the thoracic region respectively. Computer
modeling, dummy testing, and human surrogate experiments are utilized to provide
the necessary data to evaluate these injury mechanisms.
In addition, this methodology is also employed to develop airbags that
are designed to reduce the risk of injury to the out of position occupant.
REFERENCES:
Crandall, J.R., Duma, S.M., Kuppa, S., Bass, C.R.,
Pilkey, W.D., Khaewpong, N., Eppinger, R.H., "Airbag Aggressivity and the Out
of Position Driver," Proceedings of 41st
Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine Conference, Orlando,
Florida, November, 1997.
Virginia
Tech / Wake Forest University Center for Injury Biomechanics