This study develops and validates a new dummy neck for rear-end collision testing. The effectiveness of passenger car head rests in rear-end collisions remains poor and whiplash injuries, often occurring at low impact speeds, are a great problem. Until now, there has been no acceptable dummy for rear-end impact testing. The new neck consists of seven cervical and two thoracic vertebrae connected with pin joints. It is designed solely for rear-end collision testing at low impact speeds (lower than 20 km/h). It was validated using a series of volunteer tests. It showed good accordance. A Hybrid III neck was tested under the same conditions. This neck proved to be stiff. It also appeared to have too high resistance to horizontal translational motion between head and torso. (A)
Abstract