Combination of active and passive safety systems is a future key to further improvement in vehicle safety. Autonomous braking systems are able to reduce collision speeds, and therefore severity levels significantly. Passengers change their position due to pre-impact vehicle motion, a fact, which has not yet been considered in common crash tests. For this paper, finite elements simulations of crash tests were performed to show that forward displacements due to pre-crash braking do not necessarily increase dummy load levels. So the influence of different pre-crash scenarios, all leading to equal closing speeds in the crash phase, are considered in terms of vehicle motion (pitching, deceleration) and restraint system configurations (belt load limiter, pretensioner). The influence is evaluated by dummy loads as well as contact risk between the dummy and the interior.
Keywords: AEB; Autonomous emergency braking; CFC; COG; Dummy forward displacement; FE; HIC; IIHS; Insurance Institute for Highway Safety; NCAP; NHTSA; National Highway Traffic Safety Administration; New Car Assessment Program; PDB; PIP; Pre-crash; Pre-impact pitching; RP; SUV; TRW; TTC; Thompson Ramo Wooldridge; autonomous emergency braking; centre of gravity; channel frequency class; finite elements; head injury criterion; partnership for dummy technology and biomechanics; pre-impact pitching; reversible pretensioner; sports utility vehicle; t(0); time 0: beginning of crash event; time to collision.
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