Pedestrian subsystem head impact results reflect the severity of pedestrian head injuries

Abstract

Ten head impacts between pedestrians and cars were reconstructed to compare the head injuries sustained by pedestrians with the results of reconstruction tests using the headform impactors designated by the European Enhanced Vehicle-safety Committee (EEVC) Working Group 10 for assessing pedestrian head protection. The methodology of this study included at-scene accident investigation, computer simulation, and physical reconstruction in a laboratory of the head impacts that occurred in the accident cases that were investigated. The main finding was that the results from using the EEVC headform impactors test correlate well with the severity of any head injury, as measured by the Abbreviated Injury Scale, in actual pedestrian accidents. Head impacts that exceeded a HIC value of 1000 were positively associated with head injuries that were AIS3 or above.