Method of Evaluating Abdominal Injury in Japan's Child-Restraint-System Assessment Program

This paper describes the electric pressure sensor-based abdominal injury measuring method employed in the Japan's CRS assessment program. The CRS assessment program was launched in 2001 in Japan. The objective of this program is to assess usability of CRSs for infants and toddlers and the systems' safety in frontal collision. This assessment has started due to recent increase of casualties among minor passengers and to introduction of the mandatory use of CRSs for six-year-old or younger passengers. The safety assessment test determines performance of CRSs by evaluating behavior of dummies and the target CRSs as well as damage caused by the CRS. It also investigates whether or not the CRS is constraining vulnerable parts of the child's body. In the initial plan, high-speed photography was to be used for determining the scale of the injury caused by restraining gear such as a harness on a child's body. It was found, however, that images from high-speed photography are not suited for determining degrees of compression on the abdomen, the most vulnerable part of the body. In order to solve this problem, the authors have started an investigation for an alternative method capable of quantitatively measuring abdominal compression. Throughout the study, the electric pressure sensor-based method was employed for determining abdominal compression from the CRS assessment in 2003. This method allows for quantitatively observing the ever-changing pressure distribution on the abdomen. This approach first calculates abdominal loads from the pressure data collected from the area corresponding to the child's abdomen, and then selects the maximum load among them for use in the actual assessment. The authors have derived children's resistibility to abdominal load by scaling the relation between the waist belt and Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) among adults to the children's physique.

• Record URL:
  • http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/pdf/nrd-01/esv/esv19/05-0292-W.pdf
• Corporate Authors:

  National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • Ono, Yuji
  • Komiyama, Yukikazu
  • Takatori, Osamu
• Conference:
  • 19th International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)
  • Location: Washington DC, United States
  • Date: 2005-6-6 to 2005-6-9
• Publication Date: 2005-6

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Web
• Features: Figures; References;
• Pagination: 15p
• Monograph Title: Proceedings - 19th International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV), Washington, D.C., June 6-9, 2005

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Abdomen; Child restraint systems; Children; Compression; Dummies; Evaluation; Frontal crashes; Highway safety; Injuries; Loads; Performance; Pressure; Sensors; Traffic safety
• Identifier Terms: Abbreviated Injury Scale
• Geographic Terms: Japan
• Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors; I84: Personal Injuries;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01070882
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 05-0292
• Files: TRIS, USDOT
• Created Date: Sep 12 2007 4:31PM