An Optimization Design of Knee Airbag for Driver Protection from Inter-City Coach Frontal Impact

Abstract

<strong>In order to </strong><strong>reduce the injury risk of driver’s lower extremities, a driver knee airbag was de</strong><strong>veloped</strong><strong> and optimized by</strong><strong> using mathematical models</strong><strong>. The influence of eight design parameters of belt and knee airbag on the injuries of driver’s lower extremities was analyzed. The </strong><strong>result </strong><strong>shows that the key influence factors</strong><strong> </strong><strong>are</strong><strong> sensitive to the injuries of lower extremity</strong><strong>, including initiation </strong><strong>timing </strong><strong>of knee airbag,</strong><strong> the strap length of knee airbag and area coefficient for the exhaust openings of knee airbag</strong><strong>. Based on multi-objective genetic algorithms</strong><strong>,</strong><strong> an optimization of the knee airbag was conducted in terms of the three factors. After optimization, the injury risk of driver’s lower extremities is greatly reduced.</strong><strong></strong>