AUTOMOTIVE SEAT DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS THROUGH COMPARATIVE STUDY OF ANTI WHIPLASH INJURY CRITERIA

Although whiplash injuries can occur in any kind of crash, an occupant's chances of sustaining this type of injury are greatest in rear-end collisions. When a vehicle is struck from behind, typically several things occur in quick succession to an occupant of that vehicle. An objective for this research paper is to compare the relation between the anti whiplash criteria, their effectiveness & possibility of verifying the defined performance limits by various consumer rating groups, insurance agencies, and regulatory authorities. This research paper describes work done by different OEMs worldwide on Whiplash injuries. It focuses on methodologies, test requirements; instrumentation and setup defined in protocol by different groups on passive safety i.e. GTR7, EuroNCAP, IIHS and RCAR. This research was carried with methodology / process specified in GTR 7 i.e. use of dynamic sled testing and static measurements by R point and H point methods using HPM with HRMD and other different protocols. Lastly we observed significant contribution of seat backset parameter to whiplash injuries in dynamic sled test. Means higher the backset more is relative head rotation v/s torso leading to whiplash injuries. Seat system design parameters such as R / H point, Seating Torso angle and Head restraint profile, seat geometry govern Backset dimension