Child Occupant Protection in Vehicles: Methods to Mitigate Injuries to Toddlers in a Vehicle Crash

Child occupant protection in vehicles is a major issue of concern for parents and the government. This book is an effort to numerically study the injury mechanisms incurred by toddlers in a vehicle crash and further propose methods to mitigate them. Different countermeasures were investigated to mitigate the head and neck injury potential in frontal and side impact crashes. These methods involved numerical studies utilizing a Hybrid III 3-year-old dummy, Q3/Q3s dummies and a child FE model. Load limiting behaviour into the upper tether and lower LATCH anchors of the CRS in order to reduce the neck injury criteria by increasing forward head excursion in a frontal crash was first examined. Secondly, a head and neck restraining device was developed to limit the amount of neck rotation in the dummy?s head. Finally, numerical simulations were completed with rectangular and cross-shaped sections of rigid ISOFIX systems for better side impact protection. In addition, studies were conducted to confine lateral movement of the dummy?s head by incorporating energy absorbing foam on the side wings in the vicinity of the contact region of the CRS.