Side-Impact Simulation Study to Investigate the Protection of Older Child Occupants in Lightweight Vehicles

From 2016, the Euro NCAP side‐impact test will be conducted with Q6 and Q10 child dummies installed in the rear of the vehicle. The use of larger dummies is likely to produce a much more challenging test due to the generation of larger head excursions and the greater likelihood of body contact with the vehicle interior. This scenario is particularly applicable to lightweight vehicles due to the limited space available in the passenger compartment and the typically high crash pulses experienced by this vehicle type. This paper investigates the challenges of designing a lightweight electric vehicle that provides sufficient protection for older child occupants in side‐impacts. Side‐impact simulations, based on the Euro NCAP 2016 side‐impact setup, were performed at 50 km/h in LS‐DYNA using the mobile deformable barrier (MDB) instead of the Advanced European‐MDB (AE‐MDB). The results were analyzed to examine the influence of crash pulse and compartment intrusion on dummy injury severity, and also to address the trade‐off between pulse severity and intrusion level. The study is maintained by an accident data analysis with German In‐Depth Accident Study data and installation tests with Child restraint system (CRS).