The objective of this study was to evaluate whether the effectiveness of a passenger airbag can be increased by making the passenger airbag adaptive to crash conditions, such as severity and type of impact, belt use, and passenger size. Such an adaptive passenger airbag will better cover a wider range of crash situations than a conventional airbag system. In this study, mathematical modeling was performed for the optimization of an existing passenger airbag restraint system. The final solution can be used as reference for the design of an adaptive airbag system. The present study was divided into four steps: (1) an FEM airbag model was developed by using the MADYMO 3D program based on an existing prototype of a passenger airbag; (2) the airbag model was validated against airbag static deployment tests, airbag drop tests, and sled tests; (3) the performance of passenger airbag systems of different volumes was evaluated in terms of injury criteria for front seat occupants of different sizes; and (4) a parameter study with different impact conditions and varying levels of variables was carried out to find an optimized design of an adaptive passenger airbag restraint system. (A)
Abstract