Crash dummy family grows
Posted 03/06/2012
NHTSA's new rulemaking on ten-year-old crash dummy supported by UMTRI research
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced a final rule that introduces the ten-year-old Hybrid III crash dummy into the family of dummies used for regulatory purposes. The rule also modifies Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) 213 to test child restraints designed for children weighing between sixty-five and eighty pounds, and clarifies how child restraints can be secured by LATCH (lower anchors and tethers for children).
Several elements of the final rule have been supported by UMTRI research. The rule introduces a new seating procedure for the ten-year-old and six-year-old crash dummies that was developed at UMTRI. The seating procedure is designed to place the heads and hips of the dummy in realistic postures similar to those measured with child volunteers. When testing booster seats using this procedure, the lap and shoulder belt tensions will now be set to a range of two to four pounds rather than the unrealistic fifteen-pound lap-belt tension used previously. The lower tension is also based upon UMTRI subject data collected when child volunteers buckled themselves into booster seats.
When the ten-year-old dummy is used during FMVSS 213 testing, the head injury criteria (HIC) typically measured in other crash dummies will not be evaluated. Part of the reason is that UMTRI research performed for NHTSA indicated that booster seat designs that routed the belt off the shoulder led to better HIC scores even though the shoulder belt was not properly routed over the mid-shoulder. Evaluating head excursion rather than HIC will let child restraint manufacturers design booster seats that focus on preventing head contact with interior components, the most common cause of head injury to properly restrained children.
The final rule also expands the scope of FMVSS 213 to cover testing of child restraint products for children weighing sixty-five to eighty pounds. It also clarifies when the LATCH system can be used to attach harnessed child restraints to vehicles. New labeling requirements will indicate that if the combined weight of child restraint and child is greater than sixty-five pounds, the child restraint needs to be attached to the vehicle using the seatbelt rather than LATCH. However, belt-positioning booster seats are exempt from this labeling requirement.
Look for the next issue of the UMTRI Research Review, which will be a special issue devoted to an overview of best practices in protecting child passengers. It will be an update of the highly regarded and widely disseminated July-September 2000 issue on the same topic.
For more information about child passenger safety research and testing, contact Dr. Kathleen Klinich.
Photo courtesy of UMTRI Biosciences Group.
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