In this study, testing with Post Mortem Test Subjects (PMTS) was carried out with different sidebag systems at the German institutes of Forensic Medicine in Heidelberg and Hannover. Two systems, seat-mounted and door-mounted, were tested in critical seating positions with different testing procedures: static deployment tests, and dynamic impact tests into the door. The PMTS, equipped with three-dimensional (3D) accelerometers near the shoulder joint, the wrist, the elbow, the thorax, and the pelvis, were examined after the tests. The experiments showed that neither significant additional injuries caused by the sidebag in the impact tests nor significant injuries during the inflation tests could be observed by autopsy after the tests. The goal of the study was to estimate the injury risk due to worst case situations for the driver or passenger. Therefore, the results may not be used for efficiency studies of sidebags. (A)
Abstract