One of the recent additions to the array of secondary safety systems in modern vehicles is the side impact airbag. The sensor for such airbags needs to be located at an optimum location, since deployment needs to take place within an extremely short time. A study was conducted using real world side impact accident data from a sample of 444 cars in which at least one struck side front seat occupant received an Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) equal to or greater than 2 injury. The analysis was performed for two groups of impacts: (i) AIS 2 only injuries; and (ii) AIS equal to or greater than 3 injuries. The optimum location for an electronic or pyrotechnical sensor was found to be the rear bottom quadrant of the front door. Significant differences in the distribution of Equivalent Test Speed (ETS) and type of injuries for the two groups were found. (A)
Samenvatting