Many wheelchair users must travel in motor vehicles while seated in their wheelchairs. The safety features of seat assemblies are key to motor vehicle occupant crash protection. Seating system properties such as strength, stiffness, and energy absorbance have been shown to have significant influence on risk of submarining. This study investigated the effects of wheelchair seat stiffness and ene...

Two full-frontal Crash Injury Research and Engineering Network (CIREN) motor vehicle crashes (MVCs) were reconstructed using finite element (FE) models. A FE simplified vehicle model (SVM) was tuned to mimic the frontal crash response of the CIREN case vehicle using frontal NCAP crash test data. The Total HUman Model for Safety (THUMS) was positioned in 120 pre-crash configurations per case wit...

1569-190X/$ see front matter 2009 Elsevier B.V doi:10.1016/j.simpat.2009.09.009 * Corresponding author. Tel.: +82 2 3408 4037; fa E-mail address: [email protected] (J.-W. Jeong The objective of this paper was to find an effective way of improving demand-controlled ventilation (DCV) simulation performed under an occupant based ventilation standard established in many countries. Two attractive ...

Objective: The current study is aimed at evaluating the effect of active muscle on the dynamics of the pre-impact bracing car occupant using numerical simulations. The objective of the study includes identifying the sensitivity of occupant injury metrics to the level of pre-impact bracing action. Problem Outline: Bracing or pre-impact muscle tensing, one of the key reflexive actions adopted fre...

Ambulance vehicles are a unique passenger environment with complex crashworthiness and occupant protection issues, eg. occupants in various orientations, unique human factors aspects and an array of aftermarket interior modifications. In the USA, ambulance vehicle occupant protection, crashworthiness and safety testing lags 30 years behind current general automotive safety technology. This pape...

CONTEXT AND PURPOSE Rural households report high fire-related mortality and injury rates, but few studies have examined the risk factors for fires. This study aims to identify occupant and household characteristics that are associated with residential fires in a rural cohort. METHODS Of 1,005 households contacted in a single rural county, 691 (68.8%) agreed to participate. One household with ...

A mathematical model of a vehicle dynamic system capable of predicting ride comfort can be a useful tool for vehicle design and development engineers at the concept design stage. The aim of this study was to develop a simple mathematical model of a vehicle with seat and occupant to investigate how vehicle dynamic parameters affect the vibration transmission and ride quality. A 13 degrees-offree...

The data contained here were obtained from the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration׳s National Automotive Sampling System - Crashworthiness Data System (NASS-CDS) for the years 2008-2014. This publically available data set monitors motor vehicle crashes in the United States, using a stratified random sample frame, resulting in information on approximately 5000 crashes each year...

Modern vehicle designs tested as part of US consumer information programs achieve high ratings for frontal crash protection. Research is needed to determine how these tests can be upgraded to further improve occupant protection in real-world frontal crashes. The present study is a detailed analysis of real-world cases with serious injuries resulting from frontal crashes of vehicles rated good f...

Plug load energy consumption represents up to 40% of the total energy consumption in efficient buildings. Occupant behavior has a huge impact on plug load energy consumption. Studies have shown that up to 40% plug load energy savings can be achieved through users’ engagement in sustainable behaviors. To save energy from plug loads, either a company can replace their appliances with more efficie...