The objective of this study was to develop an accurate and repeatable out-of-position (OOP) test fixture to study the deployment of air bags into OOP occupants. Tests were performed with a 5th percentile female Hybrid III dummy and studied air bag loading on the thorax using draft International Standards Organization (ISO) 2 OOP occupant positioning. All tests were performed in one of four nominal positions regarding the steering wheel plane using a production depowered air bag from the current automobile fleet. Dummy positioning on the test fixture was found to be repeatable to within 0.3 cm on all axes. This variation was within the dimensional similarity of the two available 5th percentile female Hybrid III dummies. A large variation in occupant response was found with a very small change in effective distance from the sternum to the air bag module. Nearly 50% variation in peak chest center-of-gravity resultant acceleration was found when moving from the sternum pressed on the air bag module to the sternum effectively being 2 cm from the module. In addition, large variations in occupant response were found with vertical and horizontal displacements of the occupant concerning the air bag module center. A qualitative change in air bag deployment was found on changing the horizontal position by 4 cm to the left. These variations have significant implications for expected response from in-vehicle OOP dummy tests.
Samenvatting