title: The Large Omnidirectional Child (LODC) ATD: Biofidelity Comparison with the Hybrid III 10 Year Old.
abstract: When the Hybrid III 10-year old (HIII-10C) anthropomorphic test device (ATD) was adopted into Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 49 Part 572 as the best available tool for evaluating large belt-positioning booster seats in Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 213, NHTSA stated that research activities would continue to improve the performance of the HIII-10C to address biofidelity concerns. A significant part of this effort has been NHTSA's in-house development of the Large Omnidirectional Child (LODC) ATD. This prototype ATD is comprised of (1) a head with pediatric mass properties, (2) a neck that produces head lag with Zaxis rotation at the atlanto-occipital joint, (3) a flexible thoracic spine, (4) multi-point thoracic deflection measurement capability, (5) skeletal anthropometry representative of a seated child, and (6) an abdomen that can directly measure belt loading. The objective of this study was to evaluate the LODC by comparing its body region and full-body responses to both standard HIII-10C responses and pediatric biomechanical data. In body region tests, the LODC (BioRank = 1.21) showed improved biofidelity over the HIII-10C (BioRank = 2.70). The LODC also exhibited kinematics more similar to pediatric PMHS kinematics in a reconstruction test. In FMVSS No. 213 tests, the LODC was observed to have lower HIC values with the absence of hard chin-to-chest contacts, indicating that chin-to-chest contact severity is mitigated in the LODC design. LODC abdomen pressures and belt penetrations discriminated between restraint conditions. These results suggest the LODC has biofidelic characteristics that make it a candidate for improved assessment of injury risk in restraint system development.
authors.affiliation: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
authors.forename: Jason
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Stammen
authors.affiliation: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
authors.forename: Kevin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Moorhouse
authors.affiliation: Transportation Research Center Inc.
authors.forename: Brian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Suntay
authors.affiliation: The Ohio State University.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Carlson
authors.affiliation: The Ohio State University.
authors.forename: Yun-Seok
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Kang
mesh_terms: D000063:Accidents, Traffic; D000886:Anthropometry; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D002648:Child; D057207:Child Restraint Systems; D004867:Equipment Design; D006801:Humans; D008348:Manikins; D008954:Models, Biological; D012622:Seat Belts; D016474:Weight-Bearing