A hybrid technique for determining optimal restraint system characteristics

Abstract This paper describes a hybrid technique for identifying optimal restraint parameters as functions of occupant and collision characteristics and for assessing the potential benefit of proposed changes in restraint system design. Computer simulation results are used to develop exposure-weighted injury risk functions, which are used to quantify the effect of a change in restraint parameters relative to a baseline design and to determine optimal restraint parameters for a specific population of occupants and collisions. Computational results and field-based results are related using an error function, which is then used to predict the field outcome of a design change based on simulations of the new design. An example application of the technique is presented using the air bag gas flow rate as the variable to be optimized based on minimizing thoracic injury risk for young, male, belted occupants over the population of frontal impacts in which deployments occur.