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Pediatric occupant-to-occupant interaction responses in side impact conditions using Q-dummy and child human body
Mónica Diez1, Julio Abajo1, Alberto Negro1
1CIDAUT Foundation (Investigación y Desarrollo en Transporte y Energía), Valladolid, Spain.
Insights
Children in rear seats face increased injury risks in side crashes, especially when near other occupants. Understanding occupant interaction and size is key to improving child safety in these collisions.
Area of Science:
- Biomechanics and injury analysis
- Vehicle safety engineering
- Pediatric occupant protection
Background:
- Child road safety has improved, but rear-seat occupant protection in side impacts needs enhancement.
- Understanding child injury mechanisms in side-impact collisions is crucial for developing better safety measures.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate potential child injuries in side impact collisions.
- To analyze injury metrics for different child sizes and rear-seat positions.
- To identify injury risks from occupant-to-occupant or occupant-to-child restraint system interactions.
Main Methods:
- Finite Element Method (FEM) simulations using a validated simplified vehicle model.
- Dynamic virtual crash tests simulating Euro NCAP Child Occupant Protection Protocol.
- Analysis of three rear-seat occupant distribution scenarios with dummy and human body models.
Main Results:
- A 10-year-old child in the far-side position experienced higher head injury values due to contact with a near-side occupant or child restraint system (CRS).
- Both human body models and dummies showed similar head and neck injury responses.
- Human body models indicated increased chest injury metrics compared to dummies.
Conclusions:
- Adjacent seat occupants, particularly larger children or a CRS in the near-side position, increase a child's injury risk in rear seats during side impacts.
- Occupant-to-occupant interaction and occupant size are significant factors influencing child safety in side impact crashes.
- Findings provide insights for improving child restraint systems and vehicle interior design for side-impact protection.
Objective:
Road safety of children has improved considerably over the past decade; however, there is still much scope to better protect these occupants. Ensuring adequate protection of children seated in the rear seats requires a greater understanding of how children are injured in side crashes. The purpose of this study was to enhance the knowledge of children's potential injuries in side impact collisions by the investigation of two different child sizes seated in different positions in the rear seats. The injury metrics associated with the occupant-to-occupant or occupant-to-child restraint system interaction was also identified.
Methods:
Finite Elements Method simulations were performed using a validated simplified vehicle model with fully deformable side components. Dynamic virtual tests according to the Euro NCAP Child Occupant Protection Protocol were performed considering three different scenarios in terms of occupants´ distribution in the rear seats. Simulations were conducted with dummy and human body models. The injury metrics associated with near-side and far-side positions and the occupant-to-occupant interaction were analyzed.
Results:
The 10-year-old child seated in the far-side position presented higher injury values, especially in the head due to the contact with the adjacent child or child restraint occupying the near-side seating position. Similar responses were observed in human body and dummies models in terms of head and neck injury values. However, human body models showed an increase in the chest measurements.
Conclusions:
This study highlighted that the potential injuries of a child seated on the rear seats in a side impact crash are likely to be increased by the presence of an adjacent seat occupant, especially when larger children were seated in the far-side seating location or a CRS was installed in the near-side seating position. Results offer insight into the occupant-to-occupant interaction and occupants' size as relevant factors to improve children safety under side impact conditions.
