Rear side airbag of the future : And about its purpose to protect the passenger

Abstract: This project aims to develop a rear side airbag and to investigate how the passenger in the rear seat is in need of protection in a side impact. It was found from the literature study that the head of children and thorax of adults are the most exposed body regions in side impacts. The side collision test done with a barrier by LINCAP (Lateral Impact, New Car Assessment Program) was found to produce the highest force on the rear-seated dummy, in comparison to the same test by IIHS (Insurance Institute Highway Safety), and that a high combined pelvic force results in a lower rating of the vehicle. The objective of the airbag concepts is to offer protection area to the most exposed body regions. The airbags are designed with the presumption that the occupant uses a seat belt and a pretensioner to limit the forward motion of the body, with the rationale that this enables design of airbags with reasonable manufacturing costs. The three new concepts of airbags were: thorax; thorax/pelvis and thorax/pelvis extended. From sled tests with the three new airbag concepts, it was found that an airbag, compared to no airbag, reduces the risk of injury at thorax by 70 percentage units and the force on pelvis is considerably reduced in a side impact. The thorax bag showed a reduction of the rib deflection compared to no airbag, but a high force on the pelvis motivates a protection area of pelvis. The tests with the two larger bags thorax/pelvis and thorax/pelvis extended resulted in a better protection of thorax, abdomen and pelvis than without airbag. Problems with positioning the pelvis area of the bags was noticed but not solved and may be a task in further investigations.