Ford Motor Company, 2101 Village Road, Dearborn, MI, 48121, USA.
Traffic Inj Prev. 2013;14 Suppl:S30-9. doi: 10.1080/15389588.2013.811720.
Fundamental physics and numerous field studies have shown a higher injury and fatality risk for occupants in smaller and lighter vehicles when struck by heavier, taller and higher vehicles. The consensus is that the significant parameters influencing compatibility in front-to-side crashes are geometric interaction, vehicle stiffness, and vehicle mass. The objective of this research is to develop a concept of deployable bumper and grille airbags for improved vehicle compatibility in side impact. The external airbags, deployed upon signals from sensors, may help mitigate the effect of weight, geometry and stiffness differences and reduce side intrusions. However, a highly reliable pre-crash sensing system is required to enable the reliable deployment, which is currently not technologically feasible.
Analytical and numerical methods and hardware testing were used to help develop the deployable external airbags concept. Various Finite Element (FE) models at different stages were developed and an extensive number of iterations were conducted to help optimize airbag and inflator parameters to achieve desired targets. The concept development was executed and validated in two phases. This paper covers Phase II ONLY, which includes: (1) Re-design of the airbag geometry, pressure, and deployment strategies; (2) Further validation using a Via sled test of a 48 kph perpendicular side impact of an SUV-type impactor against a stationary car with US-SID-H3 crash dummy in the struck side; (3) Design of the reaction surface necessary for the bumper airbag functionality. The concept was demonstrated through live deployment of external airbags with a reaction surface in a full-scale perpendicular side impact of an SUV against a stationary passenger car at 48 kph. This research investigated only the concept of the inflatable devices since pre-crash sensing development was beyond the scope of this research.
The concept design parameters of the bumper and grille airbags are presented in this paper. Full vehicle-to-vehicle crash test results, Via sled test, and simulation results are also presented. Head peak acceleration, Head Injury Criteria (HIC), Thoracic Trauma Index (TTI), and Pelvic acceleration for the SID-H3 dummy and structural intrusion profiles were used as performance metrics for the bumper and grille airbags. Results obtained from the Via sled tests and the full vehicle-to-vehicle tests with bumper and grille airbags were compared to those of baseline test results with no external airbags.
基础物理学和众多现场研究表明，在较小和较轻的车辆被较重、较高和较大的车辆撞击时，车内乘员的受伤和死亡风险更高。人们普遍认为，影响正面到侧面碰撞兼容性的重要参数是几何相互作用、车辆刚度和车辆质量。本研究的目的是为改善侧面碰撞中的车辆兼容性开发一种可展开式保险杠和格栅安全气囊的概念。外部安全气囊在传感器发出信号时展开，可能有助于减轻重量、几何形状和刚度差异的影响，并减少侧面侵入。然而，需要高度可靠的碰撞前感应系统来实现可靠的展开，而这在技术上目前是不可行的。
采用分析和数值方法以及硬件测试来帮助开发可展开式外部安全气囊的概念。在不同阶段开发了各种有限元（FE）模型，并进行了大量迭代，以帮助优化安全气囊和充气机参数，以实现预期目标。概念开发分两个阶段进行和验证。本文仅涵盖第二阶段，包括：（1）重新设计安全气囊的几何形状、压力和展开策略；（2）使用 SUV 型冲击器以 48 公里/小时的速度垂直撞击静止汽车的 Via 滑橇试验进一步验证，在撞击侧使用 US-SID-H3 碰撞假人；（3）设计保险杠安全气囊功能所需的反应表面。该概念通过在 SUV 以 48 公里/小时的速度垂直撞击静止乘用车的全尺寸侧面碰撞中使用带有反应表面的外部安全气囊的实时展开来演示。本研究仅研究了充气装置的概念，因为碰撞前感应的开发超出了本研究的范围。
本文介绍了保险杠和格栅安全气囊的概念设计参数。还介绍了整车对车碰撞试验、Via 滑橇试验和模拟结果。SID-H3 假人的头部峰值加速度、头部损伤准则（HIC）、胸部创伤指数（TTI）和骨盆加速度以及结构侵入轮廓被用作保险杠和格栅安全气囊的性能指标。带有保险杠和格栅安全气囊的 Via 滑橇试验和整车对车试验的结果与无外部安全气囊的基线试验结果进行了比较。
