Development of a Small rear Facing Child Restraint System Virtual Surrogate to Evaluate CRS-to-Vehicle Fitment

Child restraint systems (CRS) are the leading technology in providing safety and restraint to child occupants in automotive vehicles. Their success at reducing injury in motor vehicle crashes hinges largely upon their proper installation as well as their interface with the vehicle seat. To this degree, it is immensely important that vehicle manufacturers have an accurate means of producing seat design specifications capable of accommodating the large and varied CRS market in terms of safety, comfort and aesthetic appeal. Current methods of obtaining accurate geometries and volume have long been outdated or are a poor representative. Additionally, modern CRS designs have changed considerably to accommodate newer advanced features. This study looks to give a means of quantifying CRS geometry so vehicle and CRS manufacturers have access to accurate geometric envelopes thereby enhancing accuracy, fit and hence safety to the end consumer. In the current study, digital reconstruction of 22 rear facing (RF) CRS was accomplished using the Microsoft Kinect for Windows v1.0 sensor and supplemented by 18 OEM drawings. 40 child seats were compiled to represent 72 rear facing CRS in the current US market (as of April 2014). Finite element (FE) models of the individual seats were generated and placed into seat back and seat-pan angles typical of the industry and overlapped to create “virtual surrogates.” The virtual surrogate was made available to both vehicle and CRS manufacturers for virtual fitment evaluations in various vehicle environments. Based on both physical installations of select CRS and virtual evaluation, the surrogate was found to accurately depict the volume, fitment and interference of modern RF CRS.