Study regarding the influence of airbag deployment time on the occupant injury level during a frontal vehicle collision

Abstract

The aim of this paper was to analyse the influence of airbag deployment delay upon the head of the occupant in the case of frontal collision using simulations in PC Crash and MADYMO dummy as the occupant. The study will also take into account the pretension delay of the seat-belt which is activated along with the airbag. Frontal airbags on both the passenger and the driver were analysed including the occupant kinematics during the collision. Also, to validate the simulation, a comparison was done with a real crash test. We predict that by increasing the delay of deployment, the head acceleration will increase due to the fact the head travels close to the instrument panel/steering wheel, and the force of the airbag will generate a significant acceleration upon the head. To better assess the potential injury of the occupant, the head injury criteria (HIC) will be calculated and correlated with the Abbreviated injury scale (AIS) code.