Occupant protection in far-side impacts

The potential injury reducing benefits by a far-side airbag was evaluated by means of human body modelling (HBM). The human body model (HBM) was validated for far side evaluation by means of PMHS tests carried out under six simplified far-side impact conditions. A CORrelation Analysis (CORA) rating was carried out. Based on the CORA score and the proposed biofidelity evaluation procedure the model was considered valid to be used in evaluation of far-side impact countermeasures. The HBM was thereafter positioned in a sled model developed based on the proposed Euro-NCAP 2020 protocol. The predicted risk of rib fractures and lateral head excursion was evaluated both with and without far-side airbag. The proposed far-side airbag was found to reduce head excursion and rib fracture risk in far-side impacts from 900 to 150 impact angles. To assess Euro-NCAP far-side sled test rating performance, a 50%-ile WorldSID crash dummy model was positioned in the sled model. Without countermeasure, the head displacement exceeded the occupant interaction limit. With far-side airbag the head excursion limit was not exceeded. The far-side airbag also reduced chest deflection from above the high-performance limit to below, such that a full score was obtained also for the chest evaluation