Does the current testing standard of chest protectors warrant the devices’ protection for PTW riders in collisions?

Abstract

Non-inflatable chest protector is a passive safety device to protect powered two-wheeler (PTW) riders from thorax injuries. Before being put on the market, the protectors should be qualified for the European standard tests EN1621-3:2018 which remains uncertain regarding the impact energy level, force evaluation thresholds, and impact configurations. This study aims to ascertain whether the standard EN1621-3:2018 ensures adequate chest protection for PTW riders. Thus, three generic protectors were created to qualify for standard tests and then evaluated against rider chest impact scenarios by finite element modelling. Bar-to-rider and rider-to-bar virtual impacts were simulated with a range of impact energy 50 ∼ 1563 J. In virtual standard tests, protector 1 had the lowest impact force, followed by protectors 2 and 3. In chest impact analysis, the rider with or without protector was rarely found injured under the testing standard energy level (50 J). The chest impact force was below the standard force threshold of 24 kN under all impact energy levels. Protector 3 had a generally better protection performance in terms of chest deflection than protectors 1 and 2, which were not consistent with the standard testing results. The rider chest responses in bar-to-rider impacts differed significantly from the responses in bar-to-rider impacts. Therefore, future testing standard might introduce more appropriate impact energy, force thresholds and accident-relevant impact configurations to ensure the device’s effectiveness in providing protection during PTW crashes. This study furnishes valuable insights into enhancing the design and evaluation methodologies of protective gear, thus directly contributing to the advancement of PTW rider safety.