Citation

Mizuno K, Matsui Y, Ikari T, Toritsuka T. Int. J. Crashworthiness 2011; 16(1): 63-74.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2011, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/13588265.2010.514770

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

In Japan, it became mandatory for rear seat occupants to wear seatbelts as of 2008. This paper summarises the results of full car crash tests for rear seat occupants, and compares the kinematics and injury risk to belted and unbelted rear sear occupants in order to show the effectiveness of seatbelts. Full-width rigid barrier and offset frontal impact tests were conducted using Hybrid III fifth percentile female and 3-year-old dummies in belted or unbelted conditions in the rear seat. In both full and offset frontal tests, the injury measures of the belted fifth female and 3-year-old dummies in the rear seat were relatively low because contact with the car interior was prevented by the seatbelt, although the head injury criterion and the chest deflection of the fifth female dummy were relatively large. In the tests with the fifth female dummy not belted, its knees and head made contact with the front seatback and the head of the front seat dummy, respectively. Due to this impact by the fifth female dummy, the injury measures of the driver dummy became high. The unbelted 3-year-old dummy moved in the passenger compartment, making contact with several locations in the car. These test results were comparable with accident analyses that show high injury risks to the chest of belted rear seat occupants, and high injury risks to the head and lower extremities in unbelted rear seat occupants.