A New THOR Shoulder Design: Its Range-of-Motion in Comparison with Volunteers, the Hybrid III and THOR NT

There is a need for dummies that mimic crash victims’ kinematics in oblique and offset frontal collisions. Improved seatbelt-to-dummy interaction in crash testing is also desirable. Hence, a new THOR shoulder was developed and evaluated in comparison with volunteers’, the Hybrid III and THOR NT shoulder range-of-motion. The new shoulder has human-like bony landmarks, clavicle curvature and length, and joints. The evaluation showed that the range-of-motion for the static loading of the new shoulder was similar to that of the volunteers. This was not so for the Hybrid III and THOR NT. The data indicates that the new shoulder design can provide more human-like shoulder motions in a crash test.