The objective of this study is to assess the safety problem concerning head impacts with roof-pillar support structures and to identify potential remedies for the problem. Also, the study presents an illustration of using accident data, in conjunction with the existing laboratory test data and mathematical simulations, as a tool for the evaluation of motor vehicle safety problems. The study starts with a general discussion on the occupant harm distribution as a function of injury sources and injured body regions, then progresses to head impact problems. The subject head impact problem can be characterized as a typical hard impact problem. Also, hard copy accident reports were analyzed to understand better the real world head injury mechanisms that when combined with biomechanical data, were used to identify practical approaches for head injury mitigation. The study was based on the ncss and the nass accident data, laboratory impact test data, and occupant crash simulations. The results indicate that the subject safety problem will be a major concern to the safety community in the near future.(a) for the covering abstract of the conference see irrd 275448.
Abstract