In far-side impacts, the time span between the car-to-car impact and the occupant interaction with the interior is longer than 200 ms. In this time span, the reaction of the driver might affect the injury outcome significantly. The objective of this study was to demonstrate the differences between the active and passive human response and the dummy response in a far-side impact by means of numerical simulations. For this, an active human computer model was constructed, which was able to account for all the reactions that were seen in volunteer-driving-simulator tests. For the passive human response and the dummy response, available computer models were used. From this study, it can be concluded that the active and passive human model responses differ significantly from that of a dummy model in a far-side impact. Also, it can be concluded that the active human model response differs significantly from that of the passive human model in a far-side impact and is more pronounced in a less severe impact. For better validation of the human models behaviour in far-side impacts, human response data in various far-side impact conditions as well as information on the active behaviour of the spine and activation levels of the most important muscles in the arms and legs are needed. (Author/publisher)
Abstract