RELATIVE DEGRADATION OF SAFETY TO CHILDREN WHEN AUTOMOTIVE RESTRAINT SYSTEMS ARE MISUSED

This paper describes the results of a series of 44 dynamic sled tests simulating a 48 km/h frontal impact. Three convertible child restraints installed in the forward-facing mode were tested. The first used a 5-point harness system, the second a T-shield configuration, and the third an overhead shield system. The type of misuse was varied for each test and included the amount of shoulder harness slack and/or twisting, seat belt and tether strap slack, seat belt routing, shoulder harness location, shoulder harness slot height, and chest clip use. An instrumented child anthropometric test dummy was installed in the restraints. The results of the misuse testing showed that the most important degradation of safety resulted from pulling the test dummy's arms through the shoulder harness. The second most important degradation of safety resulted from adding 3 inches of slack to the shoulder harness, to the tether strap and to the seat belt. For the covering abstract see ITRD E825082.

• Corporate Authors:

  National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590

  MINISTRY OF ECONOMY, TRADE AND INDUSTRY OF JAPAN

  1-3-1, KASUMIGASEKI, CHIYODA-KU
  TOKYO,   Japan  100-8901
• Authors:
  • LALANDE, S
  • LEGAULT, F
  • PEDDER, J
• Publication Date: 2003-5

Language

• English

Media Info

• Features: References;
• Pagination: 13 p.
• Serial:
  • PROCEEDINGS OF 18TH INTERNATIONAL TECHNICAL CONFERENCE ON THE ENHANCED SAFETY OF VEHICLES, HELD NAGOYA, JAPAN, 19-22 MAY 2003
  • Publisher: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Anthropometry; Children; Conferences; Crash tests; Dummies; Errors; Frontal crashes; Manual safety belts; Seat belts; Seats
• Uncontrolled Terms: Use
• ITRD Terms: 1618: Anthropometric dummy; 1758: Child; 8525: Conference; 6440: Error; 1640: Head on collision; 1648: Impact test (crash); 1476: Safety belt; 1388: Seat (veh); 9084: Use
• Subject Areas: Data and Information Technology; Research; Safety and Human Factors; Society;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00987401
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Transport Research Laboratory
• Files: ITRD, USDOT
• Created Date: Mar 3 2005 12:00AM