Far Side Impact Injury Threshold Recommendations Based on 6 Paired WorldSID / Post Mortem Human Subjects Tests

Far side has been identified in the literature as a potential cause of numerous injuries and fatalities. Euro NCAP developed a far side test protocol to be performed to assess adult protection. A monitoring phase was undertaken between January 2018 and December 2019, and the far side assessment will become part of the rating for all vehicles launched in 2020 onward. A test buck was developed and 6 paired WorldSID / Post Mortem Human Subjects (PMHS) were subjected to the test protocol proposed by Euro NCAP to contribute to the development of limits. The buck consisted of a rigid seat and a rigid central console covered with 50 mm of Ethafoam TM 180 with a density of 16 kg/m3. The buck was mounted on the sled with an angle of 75° between the X axis of the vehicle and the X axis of the sled. The peak head excursion was compared between PMHS and the WorldSID dummy. It was found reasonably similar. However, the dummy repeatability was found to be poor. Out of 6 tests conducted on 6 PMHS, 2 specimens sustained AIS3 and, 3 specimens AIS2 cervical spine injuries, 3 specimens sustained AIS3, 1 AIS2 and 1 AIS1 thoracic injuries, and 2 specimens sustained AIS2 abdominal injuries. The peak values recorded on the dummy according to the Euro NCAP protocol were compared with the injury assessments of the PMHS tests. In the configuration used, which includes a central console, the hard thorax injury prediction was found to be excellent. For the neck injury prediction, the data were merged with similar results available in the literature and an Injury Risk Curve was proposed as a derivative from the curve published by Mertz et al. (2003) for neck extension.