Worldsid small female side impact dummy specifications and prototype evaluation

The WorldSID program was set up to develop a new, worldwide acceptable, advanced technology, side impact crash test dummy for improved assessment of injury risk to car occupants in lateral collisions. Following the release of the mid-sized male WorldSID, the development of the small female WorldSID dummy was initiated by the EC 6th Framework collaborative research project ‘APROSYS’ in 2004. The main specifications and requirements of the new dummy have been defined in terms of anthropometry, biomechanical response and instrumentation capabilities in general and per body segment. An overview of the specification is given in this paper. Two prototype dummies have been evaluated against a first set of test conditions. Test results are presented here, including pendulum impactor, linearly guided impactor, drop and sled tests. For a prioritised matrix of biomechanical test conditions, the dummy responses were compared against the biomechanical human response requirements. Furthermore, the dummy’s repeatability in well-controlled test conditions and its sensitivity to temperature were studied and its compliance to anthropometric requirements is reported. Following the assessment of the dummy’s current biofidelity and maturity, recommendations for further dummy improvements are given in the conclusions