Safety and its progress

 

* By the 1930s, cars were regarded by ��lethal weapon.��

* The task of achieving safety

    1) To try to design cars and road infrastructures that are sufficiently competent in every sense to      prevent an accident from occuring

    ex) ABS brakes, radial tires, automatic pre-braking to avoid obstacles road surface material, computer control of city traffic flow

    2) To design and build cars that protect the occupants in the event of an accident

* With regard to in-vehicle survivability,

    the necessity to acquire a full understanding of the effects of accidents on the human frame

* Between 1953 and 1955, Cornell Aeronautical Lab.

    - recording and analyzing the effects of motor vehicle passenger injury and death

    • contact w/ the steering wheel and instrument panel were prime causes of injury
    • ejection from the vehicle a major cause of death

* Between 1956 and 1958, GM initiated and supported a safety program

* In 1959, showing a concept vehicle

    - telescoping steering column, high penetration resistant panel, a padded instrument panel

    - GM also tested an air bag in 1959

       => The first air bag patent was filed in 1952

* In 1960, GM designed its initial crash decelerator sled

   => installed at Wayne State Uni. medical center.

* By 1963, the first tests using embalmed cadavers

   => if the force was concentrated, 340kg could be tolerated

   => if spread by the steering wheel and hub, 950kg

* Available Crash dummies

    - basically variants of the Hybrid III

    • Hybrid III 5th
    • Hybrid III 50th
    • Hybrid III 95th
    •  
    • 6-year old Child Dummy (based on earlier designs by Alderson Research Laboratories and Sierra Engineering Company)
    • 3-year old Child Dummy (based on earlier designs by Alderson Research Laboratories dummy VIP-3C)

    - and 12, 18, and 36 month old child dummies(CRABI)

       => CRABI : Child Restraint & Air Bag Interaction Dummy

    • 18-month old infant dummy (developed at FTSS)
    • 12-month old infant dummy (developed at FTSS)
    • 6-month old infant dummy (developed at FTSS)

    - Side Impact Dummies

    • SID (from the Hybrid II 50th)
    • BioSID (developed by GM)
    • EuroSID-1 (developed by TNO)

* Hybrid IV dummy is in research and development

    - main differences compared w/ Hybrid III

    • rib cage is fuller
    • shoulder is connected to the chest via a more realistic clavicle

    => tested for operation throughout the shoulder mechanism

    => interact through the whole rib cage

    => from one single direction sensor in the Hybrid III, to four multi-directional sensors in the Hybrid IV

* Dummies don��t entirely replicate the human body

    => Essential elements include weight and center of gravity

* Statistics on potential brain injuries can be extrapolated from test results, including whiplash

* The more biofidelic a dummy the less durability

    - The average ��life�� of a set of ribs is about 30 uses in a NHTSA (Natoinal Highway Traffic Safety Association)

* Computer crash simulation and physical testing are complementary

* Typical physical test is a thorax impact check carried out to simulate a 24 km/h impact

    => The resistant force of the rib cage is measured by taking the acceleration

    => A transducer measures rib deflection

    => provide a force deflection, or hysteresis, curve

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