HYBRID III STERNAL DEFLECTION ASSOCIATED WITH THORACIC INJURY SEVERITIES OF OCCUPANTS RESTRAINED WITH FORCE-LIMITING SHOULDER BELTS. FRONTAL CRASH SAFETY TECHNOLOGIES FOR THE 90'S

A relationship between the risk of significant thoracic injury (AIS is greater than or equal to 3) and Hybrid III dummy sternal deflection for shoulder belt loading is developed. This relationship is based on an analysis of the Association Peugeot-Renault accident data of 386 occupants who were restrained by three-point belt systems that used a shoulder belt with a force-limiting element. For 342 of these occupants, the magnitude of the shoulder belt force could be estimated with various degrees of certainty from the amount of force-limiting band ripping. Hyge sled tests were conducted with a Hybrid III dummy to reproduce the various degrees of band rearing. The resulting Hybrid III sternal deflections were correlated to the frequencies of AIS greater than or equal to 3 thoracic injury observed for similar and tearing in the field accident data. This analysis indicates that for shoulder belt loading a Hybrid III sternal deflection of 50 mm corresponds to a 40 to 50 percent risk of an AIS greater than or equal to 3 thoracic injury.