An effort to improve the injury-sensing capability and response biofidelity of frontal anthropomorphic test dummies (ATDS) for crash testing of late-model and future vehicles equipped with passive and active restraint systems has resulted in the development of new dummy components and instrumentation. The latest hardware developments include new components for the thorax, abdomen, spine and shoulders. The principal features of these new components include a more humanlike ribcage, a flexible thoracic spine, new shoulders with increased front/back mobility and load-bearing clavicles connected to the sternum, a modified Hybrid III pelvis and lumbar spine, and a chest deflection measurement system capable of monitoring three-dimensional displacements of the ribcage at the sternum as well as the left- and right-lower ribcage. This paper compares the design of these new components with corresponding components of the Hybrid III dummy. (A)
Abstract