Male and female occupant models

in vehicle safety assessment

Astrid Linder, Adj Prof, PhD

Research Director

The Swedish National Road and Transport

Research Institute

Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Conference ESOF Satellite

29 July, Manchester, United Kingdom

Vehicle safety assessment

ECE R16 ECE R94 ECE R95

Avege female

model

Non Non Non

Averge male

model

R16 manikin Hybrid III ES-2 Side Impact

Legislative vehicle safety test in Europe

Human Body Models

Male models Female

models

Proprietary

Human

Body

Models

GHBMC THUMS

50th and 95th 50th

Male Male

No

existing

models

Whiplash injuries

- More than 60% of the costs of all injuries

leading to permanent medical impairment

for the insurance companies

- Europe: 800 000 injuries annually, 40 000

result in long term suffering

- Costs: > € 10 billion in Europe

Whiplash Injuries

Most common in rear impacts

Low severity crashes, less than 20 km/h

Based on Krafft (1998)

Vehicle occupants, PMI 10%+

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

Whiplash – Injury risk

Whiplash protection concepts, risk for pmi

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

20

WIL + Whips RHR all Standard seats

Male Female Total

70% 47%

-13%

52%

Kullgren et al. (2013) Development of Whiplash Associated Disorders for Male and Female Car Occupants

in Cars Launched Since the 80s in Different Impact Directions, IRCOBI Conference

Conclusions

• Injury statistics: Different seat concepts provide different

protection for the males and females.

• A need for an extended test matrix with models of both parts

of the adult population.

• The inclusion of an average female dummy model in the

test procedure would provide the opportunity to assess the

injury protection performances for both male and female

occupants.

Thank you for your attention! astrid.linder@vti.se