Analysis and Prevention of Child Ejections from Golf Cars and Personal Transport Vehicles.

United States Consumer Products Safety Commission statistics indicate there are approximately 13,000 golf car related emergency room visits in the United States annually. Of these, approximately 40% involve children (i.e.age < 16) and 50% of these involve a fall from a moving car. Evidence also indicates that many passenger ejections occur during left turns. Children are especially susceptible to ejection because of their small size and reliance upon the hip restraint for stability. While adult ejections have been studied, the present study analyzes mechanisms of child ejection during left turns. Dynamic tests are presented wherein an anthropomorphic Hybrid III 6 year old dummy in the front passenger seat is ejected during a moderate left turn and ejection kinematics are analyzed. An Articulated TotalBody (ATB) occupant simulation is also presented, which compares favorably with experimental results. Additional simulations are presented wherein a seatbelt is found to be effective in preventing ejection with minimal belt force requirements. While experimental and simulated occupant dummies do not include muscular reactions, the potentially rapid onset of vehicle acceleration indicates that real occupants, particularly young children, may not have time to react before the ejection process has begun. Results indicate that current hip restraints are not large enough to prevent the ejection of small children during a moderate left turn. Additionally, seatbelts or straps are effective in preventing ejection during driver induced accelerations. The small belt force requirements indicate that seatbelts designed for use in automobiles and meeting Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) may not be necessary. Based on these results, it is recommended that children be prohibited from riding in golf cars without a seatbelt type restraint when driven on golf courses and that seatbelt type restraints be provided for each occupant, especially children, when driving outside the golf course setting. The full text of this paper may be found at: http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/pdf/esv/esv21/09-0186.pdf For the covering abstract see ITRD E145407.