Small Female Neck Interaction with a Side Airbag

Unlike the case for the driver and passenger side air bag, the injury potential to an out-of-position occupant in side airbag loading has been investigated only recently. Experiments were performed using dummy and cadaver experiments in order to investigate the injury potential of an out-of-position small female head and neck from a deploying side air bag. A conservative modification of the United States National Highway Traffic Safety Administration´s N_ij proposed neck injury criteria, which combines neck tension and bending, was used. All values were well below the 1.0 injury threshold for the dummy and suggested a very low possibility of neck injury. The results of the cadaver tests agreed with this prediction in that no injuries were observed. The dummy neck tension and dummy and cadaver head accelerations correlated very well with air bag inflator characteristics. These tests suggest that the side air bag may be designed to minimize the risk of head and neck injury to the out of position small female.

REFERENCES:

Duma, S.M., Crandall, J.R., Rudd, R.W., Funk, J.R., Pilkey, W.D., "Small Female Head and Neck Interaction with a Deploying Side Air Bag," Proceedings of the International Research Council on the Biomechanics of Impact Conference, Barcelona, Spain, September, 1999.

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Virginia Tech / Wake Forest University Center for Injury Biomechanics