Small female head and neck interaction with a deploying side airbag.
OBJECTIVE
This paper presents dummy and cadaver experiments designed to investigate the injury potential of an out-of-position small female head and neck from a deploying side airbag.


METHODS
Seat-mounted, thoracic-type, side airbags were selected for this study to represent those currently available on selected luxury automobiles. A computer simulation program was used to identify the worst case loading position for the small female head and neck. Once the initial position was identified, experiments were performed with the Hybrid III 5th percentile dummy and three small female cadavers, using three different inflators.


RESULTS
Peak head center of gravity (CG) accelerations for the dummy ranged from 71x g to 154 x g, and were greater than cadaver values, which ranged from 68 x g to 103 x g. Peak neck tension as measured at the upper load cell of the dummy increased with inflator aggressivity from 992 to 1670N. A conservative modification of the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA's) N(ij) proposed neck injury criteria, which combines neck tension and bending, was used. All values were well below the 1.0 injury threshold for the dummy and suggested a very low possibility of neck injury. In agreement with this prediction, no injuries were observed.


CONCLUSIONS
Even in a worst case position, small females are at low risk of head or neck injuries under loading from these thoracic-type airbags; however, injury risk increases with increasing inflator aggressivity.
Duma
Stefan M
SM
Impact Biomechanics Laboratory, Virginia Tech, 114T Randolph Hall MC 0238, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA. duma@vt.edu
Crandall
Jeff R
JR
Rudd
Rodney W
RW
Kent
Richard W
RW
D000054:Acceleration; D000063:Accidents, Traffic; D017278:Air Bags / Q000009:adverse effects*; D000886:Anthropometry; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D002102:Cadaver; D006259:Craniocerebral Trauma / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006257:Head / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D006801:Humans; D008348:Manikins; D009333:Neck / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D019838:Neck Injuries / Q000503:physiopathology*; D011187:Posture