Analysis of characteristics about far-side occupant’s chest injury during oblique side impact

Abstract

The chest is one of the most frequently injured body parts during a side impact. In this study, the effects of impact angle, impact speed, and D-ring position on the occupant’s chest injury in the far-side crash were analyzed. First, a model with a sled and a Test Human Occupant Restraint (THOR) dummy was established. Second, the acceleration curves with peaks of 6.6 and 9.0 g were applied to the sled. Then 12 sets of simulations with different impact angles and D-ring positions were conducted to evaluate the occupant’s chest responses. Results indicate that the peak chest deflection at Lower Left (LL) decreased by 11.6% on average, and that at Lower Right (LR) increased by 11.7% on average when the D-ring position moved backward. Meanwhile, with the D-ring position moving upward, the peak chest deflection at LL grew by 24.8% on average, while it decreased by 14.7% at LR.