Chest Injury Risks to Drivers for Alternative Air Bag Inflation Rates

Abstract

While the present air bag systems have been shown to be highly effective in high severity crashes, undesirable side effects have been reported in some low severity events. The inflation rate of the airbag during deployment has been cited as a factor which induces injuries. A rapid airbag deployment rate is advantageous to provide protection to occupants in severe crashes. On the other hand, airbag aggressivity associated with the high inflation rate can increase injuries in the lower severity crashes. The injury producing forces from the airbag increase as the occupant position becomes closer to the bag at the time of deployment. This paper describes the results of an analytical study to evaluate chest injury measures for reduced inflation rates of a Taurus type air bag in a variety of crash modes. A detailed nonlinear finite element model of an unfolding airbag and a 50th percentila male Hybrid III dummy are used in conjunction with a test buck to simulate frontal crashes. The model is calibrated for a 30 mph crash, and then used to evaluate the effects of chest loading for other crash modes and air bag flow rates. Different acceleration time histories are introduced to model high speed (35 mph) crashes and low speed (16 mph) pole impacts. (A) For the covering abstract see IRRD 893297.