The purpose of this work was to investigate the biomechanical motion of the occupant who is sitting in a rear box of a light truck undergoing a standard crash in order to suggest reasonable solutions. Another objective was to expose to the relevant authorities, concerned with road safety, the danger of transporting unprotected human passengers in such boxes. The research was conducted using the MADYMO 5.0 program. The model was a dummy sitting in a rear box which is undergoing deceleration of ECE-R 16 mid-severity crash (20 g, 50 km/h). Five main cases were examined: (1) no restraint system at all; (2) lap belt only; (3) padded wall only; (4) combination of a lap belt and padded wall and (5) a protective net together with a lap belt. Results show that in the case of no restraint systems the situation of the passenger can only be described as catastrophic and the use of a lap belt would cause even worse injury parameters. Two different solutions are suggested: (I) a padded wall, 100 mm thick with specific shock absorbing properties and a particular structure; and (II) a new innovative approach of protective nets.
Abstract