STUDIES OF INFLATING RESTRAINT SYSTEMS

A TOTAL OF 126 IMPACT SLED TESTS USING DUMMY TEST SUBJECTS WERE CONDUCTED TO STUDY THE PROTECTIVE POTENTIAL OF RIGHT FRONT PASSENGER INFLATING RESTRAINT SYSTEMS. THE EXPERIMENTAL PROGRAM CONSISTED OF (1) SELECTION AND FABRICATION OF A RESTRAINT SYSTEM CONFIGURATION BASED ON THE STATE OF THE ART IN 1969 AND (2) TESTING RELATIVE TO PARAMETERS, SUCH AS CRASH VELOCITY, USE OR NON-USE OF LAP BELTS, OCCUPANT SIZE, IMPACT DIRECTION, CRASH DECELERATION PULSE, AND OCCUPANT POSITION. TEST RESULTS WERE CORRELATED WITH PREDICITIONS OF A PURELY MATHEMATICAL MODEL. PERFORMANCE CRITERIA LIMITING BODY G-LOADINGS AND OCCUPANT MOTIONS WERE USED TO JUDGE TEST RESULTS. THE LEVEL OF PROTECTION OFFERED BY THE SYSTEM IS SUMMARIZED AS A SERIES OF PROPOSED VELOCITY THRESHOLD CURVES BEYOND WHICH PERFORMANCE IS EXPECTED TO BE MARGINAL. IT WAS FOUND THAT RESTRAINT PERFORMANCE WAS MARGINALLY ACCEPTABLE FOR 6-YEAR THROUGH 95TH PERCENTILE MALE DUMMY SIZES IN FRONT IMPACT UP TO 40 MPH. THRESHOLD VELOCITIES WERE REDUCED FOR 22.5 DEG RIGHT FRONT OBLIQUE IMPACT. A VARIETY OF TESTS WAS CONDUCTED ON OUT-OF-POSITION OCCUPANTS SUCH AS A CHILD OR ADULT TOUCHING THE AIRBAG, 3-YEAR CHILD ON LAP OF ADULT, OCCUPANT WEARING GLASSES, SLOUCHED PASSENGER, AND UNSYMMETRIC SEATING. IN MOST CASES SYSTEM PERFORMANCE WAS SATISFACTORY. RECOMMENDATIONS WERE OFFERED TO (1) VARY THE PARAMETERS AWAY FROM THE FIXED GEOMETRY USED IN THIS TEST PROGRAM AND, (2) IMPROVE THE DESIGN OF ANTHROPOMETRIC DUMMIES AND ESTABLISH THEIR LEVEL OF CORRELATION WITH HUMAN RESPONSE TO IMPACT. /HSRI/

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Rpt No Hsri BIO M-71-2/ HS 800497, 155 PP, FIGS, PHOTS, REFS
• Corporate Authors:

  Highway Safety Research Institute

  Huron Parkway and Baxter Road
  Ann Arbor, MI  United States  48109
• Authors:
  • Robbins, D H
  • Henke, A W
  • ROBERTS, V L
• Publication Date: 1971-3-15

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Air bags; Anthropometry; Constraints; Crash tests; Crashes; Dummies; Mathematical models; Testing
• Old TRIS Terms: Inflatable devices; Passive constraints; Sleds
• Subject Areas: Highways; Research; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00223657
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Highway Safety Research Institute
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Feb 24 1972 12:00AM