Effect of riding postures on kinematic responses and head injuries of ETW child passengers

Abstract

Electric two-wheelers (ETWs) are extensively used for the transportation of vulnerable child passengers; however, diverse riding postures adopted by children may engender potential injury risks in the event of a collision. The objective of this study was to investigate the kinematics and head injuries of child passengers with different riding postures in ‘ETW-sedan’ collisional accidents. Typical riding postures were classified and different collision scenarios were designed using the orthogonal matrix analysis method. Multibody models of humans and vehicles were developed and validated using empirical accident data. The effects of riding postures of child passengers on head injury mechanisms and kinematics were studied. The result showed that it was the most dangerous posture when the child sat in the back seat and had a reverse facial orientation with the rider, due to the highest incidence of fatal head injury. A parametric study was further conducted on the effect of different impact velocities, impact angles, and offset distances. It was found that the velocity of the sedan was the most influencing factor, and severe damage can occur when the impact angle was ranging from 30 to 90°. The study could provide guidance for the safety protection of child passengers on ETWs.