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Evaluation of the Hybrid III and Q-Series Pediatric ATD Upper Neck Loads as Compared to Pediatric Volunteers in Low-Speed Frontal Crashes

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Abstract

Debate exists in the automotive community regarding the validity of the pediatric ATD neck response and corresponding neck loads. Previous research has shown that the pediatric ATDs exhibit hyper-flexion and chin-to-chest contact resulting in overestimations of neck loads and neck injury criteria. Our previous work comparing the kinematics of the Hybrid III and Q-series 6 and 10-year-old ATDs to pediatric volunteers in low-speed frontal sled tests revealed decreased ATD cervical and thoracic spine excursions. These kinematic differences may contribute to the overestimation of upper neck loads by the ATD. The current study compared upper neck loads of the Hybrid III and Q-series 6 and 10-year-old ATDs against size-matched male pediatric volunteers in low-speed frontal sled tests. A 3-D near-infrared target tracking system quantified the position of markers on the ATD and pediatric volunteers (head top, nasion, bilateral external auditory meatus). Shear force (F x ), axial force (F z ), bending moment (M y ), and head angular acceleration (\( \ddot{\theta }_{\text{head}} \)) were calculated about the upper neck using standard equations of motion. In general, the ATDs underestimated axial force and overestimated bending moment compared to the human volunteers. The Hybrid III 6, Q6, and Q10 exhibited reduced head angular acceleration and modest increases in upper neck shear compared to the pediatric volunteers. The reduction in axial force and bending moment has important implications for neck injury predictions as both are used when calculating N ij . These analyses provide insight into the biofidelity of the pediatric ATD upper neck loads in low-speed crash environments.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank all the human volunteers who participated in this study for their patience and willingness to take part in this research. The authors would also like to acknowledge Caitlin M. Locey and Aditya Belwadi as well as J. Felipe García-España and Wenli Wang of the Center for Injury Research and Prevention at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia for assistance with ATD testing and conducting the statistical analysis, respectively. The authors would like to acknowledge Jerry Wang, Mike Gratopp, and Brian Lukas of Humanetics for facilitating loans of the ATDs and Dr. Robert Sterner and the Health and Exercise Science Department at Rowan University for their collaboration and continued support of our research. The authors thank Douglas Longhitano of American Honda Motor Co. and Schuyler St. Lawrence of TK Holdings for their valued guidance. Finally, the authors would like to acknowledge the National Science Foundation (NSF) Center for Child Injury Prevention Studies at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and the Ohio State University (OSU) for sponsoring this study and its Industry Advisory Board (IAB) members for their support, valuable input and advice. The views presented are those of the authors and not necessarily the views of CHOP, OSU, the NSF, or the IAB members.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Injury Research and Prevention, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, 3535 Market St, Suite 1150, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA

    Thomas Seacrist & Kristy B. Arbogast

  2. School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Emily A. Mathews & Sriram Balasubramanian

  3. Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Matthew R. Maltese

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  1. Thomas Seacrist
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  2. Emily A. Mathews
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  4. Matthew R. Maltese
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  5. Kristy B. Arbogast
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Correspondence to Thomas Seacrist.

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Associate Editor Joel D. Stitzel oversaw the review of this article.

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Seacrist, T., Mathews, E.A., Balasubramanian, S. et al. Evaluation of the Hybrid III and Q-Series Pediatric ATD Upper Neck Loads as Compared to Pediatric Volunteers in Low-Speed Frontal Crashes. Ann Biomed Eng 41, 2381–2390 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10439-013-0841-3

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