EVALUATION OF HYBRID III THORACIC INJURY CRITERIA IN IMPACTS WITH A SIMULATED TRUCK STEERING WHEEL – SUGGESTIONS FOR MODIFICATIONS IN INSTRUMENTATION AND REFERENCE VALUES

Paper in proceeding, 2009

Unbelted drivers of heavy commercial vehicles are likely to suffer chest injuries from steering wheel rim contact in frontal impacts. The aim of the present study was to investigate to what extent the current regulatory dummy, the Hybrid III, is capable of assessing the chest deflection in this load case. A Finite Element model of the dummy and its default sensors were evaluated together with chest injury criteria. The THUMS was used as a reference representing the human body. Suggestions on instrumentation and correction factors for injury criteria are proposed for use with the Hybrid III.