As part of a project to study a prototype side impact airbag with a focus on child-to-airbag impacts, simulations were performed using the Crash Victim Simulator/Articulated Total Body (CVS/ATB) multi-body program to study several child dummy positions to find their probable injury severity level. This allowed a subset of the positions to be chosen for future laboratory testing. A secondary goal was to see how the predicted injury levels compared to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA's) current recommendations for child dummy protection reference values (PRV's). The project also examined how the lack of lateral flexibility in the dummy would affect the testing of head, door, and airbag interactions for the case of an intruding door. Lastly, the effect of bag contact location, up and down the torso, was studied with regard to secondary loading of the neck and head. A nominal 3-year-old child size was used in the study, with two sets of neck and spinal joint characteristics to reflect humanlike and dummylike kinematic properties.
Abstract