Factors influencing occupant kinematics during braking and lane change maneuvers in a passenger vehicle

Abstract

The objective of this study is to evaluate the occupant’s kinematics during emergency braking (velocity: 12 km/h and 50 km/h, peak frontal acceleration: 10 ms‐2) and lane change maneuvers with a series-production vehicle (velocity: 50 km/h, peak lateral acceleration: 10 ms‐2) taking into account influencing factors, e.g. seat and restraint system, physiological, anatomical and psychological factors. To quantify these factors two series of vehicle‐based tests were performed. In the first series 24 male volunteers were seated in a modified seat restrained with a lap belt and kinematics were evaluated at three awareness conditions. In the second series 27 male and six female volunteers were evaluated. Lateral support plates were added to the seat. Volunteers were restrained with a conventional three‐point belt. Retro‐reflective markers were applied to anatomical landmarks and occupant kinematics were recorded using an infrared‐based three dimensional (3D) motion‐capture system. Vehicle kinematics were recorded from the vehicle CAN‐bus system. The data analysis concentrates on the upper body kinematics. Marker trajectories were used to estimate the position and orientation of head and torso. The study shows distinct inter‐individual differences in terms of occupant movement, especially for the lap‐belt setup. The study further shows a strong influence of lateral support structures in the lane‐change maneuvers. A complete set of results clustered according to the influencing factors is included in this paper.