A NEW NECK INJURY CRITERION CANDIDATE FOR REAR-END COLLISIONS TAKING INTO ACCOUNT SHEAR FORCES AND BENDING MOMENTS

It is generally accepted today that the cervical spine of a car occupant who is involved in a low-speed rear end impact may suffer from soft tissue neck injuries leading to long term impairment. Therefore, to assess the risk of such injuries is a major issue in traffic safety, and various neck injury criteria are being discussed for this purpose. In this study a new candidate for such an injury predictor, called Nkm, was developed. Results from a total of 37 sled tests with various car front seat models were evaluated to validate the new criterion. These results indicate that the new criterion offers the possibility to assess the kinematic phase of forward motion rear-end collision. In contrast, the NICmax which was also calculated for these tests allows to evaluate the retraction phase only. Furthermore, the influence of the seat design on its protective potential could be related to the Nkm values obtained.

• Corporate Authors:

  National Highway Safety Advisory Committee

  National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • Schmitt, K-U
  • MUSER, M H
  • NIEDERER, P
• 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

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

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Biophysics; Conferences; Crashes; Design; Hazards; Injuries; Rear end crashes; Risk assessment; Seats; Time duration; Vertebrae
• Uncontrolled Terms: Long term
• ITRD Terms: 1643: Accident; 2060: Biomechanics; 2040: Cervical vertebrae; 8525: Conference; 9011: Design (overall design); 2163: Injury; 9110: Long term; 1620: Rear end collision; 9150: Risk; 1388: Seat (veh)
• Subject Areas: Design; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00920757
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Transport Research Laboratory
• Files: ITRD, USDOT
• Created Date: Mar 6 2002 12:00AM