REAR-END COLLISIONS. DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF A NEW DUMMY- NECK

Whiplash-motion is usually defined as a swift extension-flexion motion of the neck. Whiplash injuries to the neck usually occur in rear-end collisions, one of the most common impact directions. The injuries mostly occur at low impact velocities (<20 km/h). A new dummy-neck for rear-end collision testing has been developed and validated. The neck is designed solely for rear-end collision testing at low impact- speeds. It consists of seven cervical and two thoracic vertebrae connected with pin joints. The new neck has been validated with data from volunteer tests and has also been compared to a Hybrid III-dummy neck. The new neck has shown good agreement with the volunteer tests. The Hybrid III neck, however, has proved to be too stiff and appeared to have too high a resistance to horizontal translation motion between head and torso. Preliminary low-speed rear-end collision sled-tests have shown that the RID-neck functions well together with the Hybrid III dummy. With this modified Hybrid III dummy, it appears to be possible to study how the head-neck kinematics varies with different car seats and headrests, and thus be a useful tool for developing better seats and headrests. (A)