When Driver Safety Fails – Then What? Vehicular Accident Analysis: The Big Picture The Risk Benefit Analysis of Seating System Design

摘要

A crash happens and then what? As an investigator, you may be called upon to evaluate thernconditions of the crash, the forces and accelerations acting on the vehicles, and the forces andrnmoments acting on the occupants. After you have completed this portion of the analysis, andrnyou have studied the learned treatises and peer-reviewed literature relating to human tolerance,rnyou discover that the severity and nature of the injuries may not be consistent with the level ofrnforces generated in the particular crash.rnBecause crash injury protection is governed by the established tolerance of the human body t ornboth inertial and impact injury mechanisms and vehicle forces are governed by the laws ofrnphysics, what can cause this disparity? One critical factor to consider is the design of the vehiclernand its components, such as seats and seat belts. This paper focuses on collisions with a rear linernof force relative to the occupant (i.e., rear-end crashes) and explores the design of the seatingrnsystem as a cause of the disparity between the injuries to the occupants and the forces generatedrnin the crash. In particular, this paper explores the risks versus the benefits of seat strength in thernrear-impact direction to establish a roadmap for seating and restraint designers.