DEVELOPMENT OF PERFORMANCE SPECIFICATIONS FOR THE OCCUPANT CLASSIFICATION ANTHROPOMETRIC TEST DEVICE (OCATD)

Advanced airbag systems use a variety of sensors to classify vehicle occupants so that the airbag deployment can be modulated accordingly. One potential input to such systems is the distribution of pressure applied to the seat surface by the occupant. However, the development of such systems is hindered by the lack of suitable human surrogates. The OCATD program has developed two new surrogates for advanced airbag applications representing a small adult woman and a six-year-old child. This paper describes the development of performance specifications for the OCATDs based on a study of the seat surface pressure distributions produced by vehicle occupants. The pressure distributions of sixty-eight small women and children ranging in body weight between 23 and 48 kg were measured on four seats in up to twelve postures per seat. The data were analyzed to determine the parameters of the pressure distribution that best predict occupant body weight. Target values for these parameters were then developed for the two OCATD sizes. Measurements of pressure distributions produced by the OCATDs showed good agreement between the human-derived targets and the OCATD performance.

• Corporate Authors:

  National Highway Safety Advisory Committee

  National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • Reed, Matthew P
  • Ebert, S M
  • Schneider, L W
• Conference:
  • PROCEEDINGS OF 17TH INTERNATIONAL TECHNICAL CONFERENCE ON THE ENHANCED SAFETY OF VEHICLES. CD ROM
  • Location: Amsterdam , Netherlands
  • Date: 2001-6-4 to 2001-6-7
• Publication Date: 2001

Language

• English

Media Info

• Features: References;
• Pagination: 9 p.
• Serial:
  • Issue Number: DOT HS 809220

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Air bags; Children; Conferences; Data collection; Females; Posture; Pressure; Safety; Seats; Sensors; Vehicles
• ITRD Terms: 1465: Air bag (restraint system); 1758: Child; 8525: Conference; 8623: Data acquisition; 2094: Posture; 5412: Pressure; 1665: Safety; 1388: Seat (veh); 6120: Sensor; 1255: Vehicle; 1788: Woman
• Subject Areas: Safety and Human Factors; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00920766
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Transport Research Laboratory
• Files: ITRD, USDOT
• Created Date: Mar 6 2002 12:00AM