DEVELOPMENT AND TESTING OF PRODUCTION PROTOTYPES OF A PROTECTIVE HEADBAND FOR CAR OCCUPANTS

This report details the results of tests made on a headband designed to protect car occupants in a crash. The tests were performed in a manner such that the headband's effectiveness could be compared with the requirements of the United States Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 201. That standard requires a certain level of head protection for the occupants of the vehicle from the upper interior of the car. The standard stipulates that a free motion headform be fired against the interior components of the car at a speed of up to 24 km/h. The requirement is that a modified value of the Head Injury Criterion, HIC(d), be less than 1000. In these tests a free motion headform was launched at a beam that simulated a structure of a car's interior. The stiffness of the beam was varied, and the headform was fired, first, without any protection, and second, with prototype headbands make of either 70 g/l expanded polypropylene (EPP) or 50 g/l EPP. By comparing the impacts in these configurations the authors found that the headband absorbed significant amounts of energy, reduced peak loads and kept the impact within acceptably safety limits as measured by the Head Injury Criterion. This study showed that the headband similar to that tested would offer significant head protection in frontal impacts. This could offer safety advantages to occupants of older vehicles who otherwise would not benefit from recent advances in occupant protection and also to occupants of more recent vehicles who might be seeking supplementary safety devices.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/isbn/0642255989
• Corporate Authors:

  University of Adelaide

  National Health & Medical Research Council, Road Accident Research Unit
  Adelaide, South Australia  Australia  5005

  Tiller and Tiller

  661 Darling Street, Suite 2, Level 2
  Rozelle NSW 2039,   Australia 
• Authors:
  • Ponte, G
  • Anderson, RWG
  • McLean, A J
  • Streeter, L
  • Tiller, R
  • Hill, S
• Publication Date: 2002-6

Language

• English

Media Info

• Features: Appendices; Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 26 p.
• Serial:
  • Publication of: University of Adelaide
  • Publisher: University of Adelaide
  • ISSN: 1445-4467

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Crash tests; Development; Energy absorption; Head; Injuries; Polypropylene; Production; Protection; Prototypes; Testing; Traffic crashes; Vehicle occupants
• Identifier Terms: Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards
• Uncontrolled Terms: Head injuries; Headband
• Subject Areas: Bridges and other structures; Highways; Passenger Transportation; Research; Safety and Human Factors; Security and Emergencies;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00936802
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
• ISBN: 0642255989
• Report/Paper Numbers: HS-043 481,, CR 210
• Files: HSL, TRIS, ATRI, USDOT
• Created Date: Jan 7 2003 12:00AM