New Side Impact Dummy Developments

A reduction in vehicle side impact deaths continues to be a major focus at NHTSA. In 2002, 23% of crash deaths were attributed to side impact collisions, of which 60% resulted from injuries to the brain. Several significant safety-lead developments have occurred this year. The proposed FMVSS 214 NPRM, released on May 12th 2004, recommends the introduction of two new Anthropomorphic Test Devices (ATD’s) in the FMVSS 214 side impact certification test, the ES-2re and SIDIIs FRG. The design and development of these ATD’s was supported by the research and engineering team at FTSS, Plymouth, USA. A description of the ES-2re ATD design, the SIDIIs FRG ATD design and the LS-Dyna finite element models of these ATD’s is presented. Particularly noteworthy is the continued collaboration between FTSS Inc. and DYNAmore Gmbh for developing the ES-2re dummy model. The new model is based on the existing DYNAmore ES-2 finite element model and is supported by FTSS dummy engineering design and test data. FTSS and DYNAmore are working closely together to offer a high quality LS-Dyna dummy model support service and to address the future ATD model needs of the industry. Future research into the application of WorldSID (50th Male occupant) for side impact regulation testing continues to be a focus at all vehicle crash research groups. This paper also reviews the latest developments of the FTSS WorldSID 50th percentile finite element model.