Abstract
Thorough knowledge of the characteristics of the human body and its behavior under extreme loading conditions is essential in order to prevent the serious consequences of road and other accidents. Anthropomorphic test devices, usually called crash dummies, are used to evaluate the safety performance of vehicles and restraint systems in laboratory crash tests. In this presentation an overview of the current status of crash dummies, including ongoing developments in this field will be presented. Dummies for different applications will be discussed, including dummies for frontal impacts (THOR), side impacts (WorldSID) and rear-end impacts (whiplash dummy: BioRID). Also developments in child dummies will be presented (Q dummies). Areas of future development will be identified, including the need for an active dummy to evaluate integrated safety systems. For crash dummies the future challenge lies in particular also in the field of international harmonisation, i.e. the world-wide acceptance of crash dummies.
Keywords: Vehicle safety, crash test dummies, biomechanics, passive safety, injury criteria