Trend analysis of rear child occupants’ injury influenced by protection system parameters

Abstract

As road traffic accidents are the leading cause of child injuries and deaths, the most common frontal impact is offset impact. Taking into consideration the lack of research on rear seat child occupants’ safety in road accidents, this study focuses on 10-year-old child occupants seated in the rear and establishes an analytical model of child injury during frontal offset impact, which is validated using test data from a real car impact of the same model. The study then examines the effects of restraint system parameters, including seat belt force-limited level, seat belt anchorage position, and seat cushion stiffness, on head, neck, and chest-abdomen injury response in the rear seat child occupants. The study found that reducing the seat belt force-limited level appropriately resulted in a significant decrease in the child occupant’s head resultant acceleration by 39.9% and the upper neck force by 53.2%. Meanwhile, increasing the seat cushion stiffness was found to reduce the child occupant’s head resultant acceleration by 18.8%, the upper neck force by 31%, and the abdominal pressure by 34.4%. This study provides a reference for the protection of rear seat child occupants.