Abstract
Biomechanical load limits and the loading capacity of children are examined using four sources of data: medical/technical literature review (overall body, body tissue, head, thorax, abdomen, pelvis, and lower extremities); mechanics of similitude, i.e. scaling adult data (head region); analysis of real pedestrian accidents (head region and lower extremities); and experimental simulation of real traffic accidents using modified anthropomorphic dummies (head, neck, thorax, abdomen, pelvis and lower extremities). Based on these sources, biomechanical load limit values as well as protection criteria are given for frontal/dorsal and lateral/medial body load directions.