Side impact dummies have expanded the capabilities of the test engineer to help design vehicles to protect the occupants. The problems in side impacts are different than in frontal impact because there is less “car” to protect the occupant in the side impact direction. Older drivers tend to drive more slowly mitigating the effects of frontal impacts. However, side impacts become more prevalent due to the effects of judgment errors such as missing stop lights or moving forward without checking for traffic from the side. The side impact dummies are therefore necessary to expand the range of protection for the older population as well as the general population.

Side impact testing is necessary to make the vehicle safe from this prevalent cause of injury. Side impacts can produce head, neck, and thorax injuries due to sudden acceleration and interior contact with a collapsed interior. Frontal impact restraints-seat belts and frontal airbags are not sufficient to protect the occupant from these injury pathways. Use of the side impact dummies has aided in the development of strengthened side doors and side curtain airbags to protect the head and upper body.

FTSS history with the side impact dummy goes back to the early 1980’s. Humanetics participated in proposed design modifications to the Hybrid II to make it have uniform responses from both sides in the head, chest, and pelvis. When NHTSA contracted Calspan, Corp. to make major modifications to the thorax and rib cage Humanetics produced the dummies which were written into the Federal Code in their final form in 1994.

 

The Europeans developed the EuroSID a little after the effort in the United States. That dummy in its advanced form ES-IIre is being considered for inclusion in the Federal Code and has been produced by FTSS.

 

FTSS (Jerry Wang) developed the WorldSID 50th dummy in the late 1990’s and the 2000’s. It features the ability to be impacted from either side with only a change in instrumentation location. Also on-board data acquisition capability was designed in from the beginning. This development was followed by the design of the WorldSID-5th to extend the range of occupants that may be tested.

 

In order to bridge the gap between the adult and the child the SID-IIs dummy was developed in the same period. It is in the U.S. Federal Code.

The Side Impact Dummy SA-SID-M001 is mandated in the U.S. Federal Code of Regulations in Title 49CFR “Transportation” Part 572 Subpart F.

 

The EuroSID dummy ES-IIre is in 49CFR “Transportation” Part 572 Subpart U.

 

The SID-IIs dummy is in “Transportation” Part 572 Subpart V.

It is possible that in the future an omni-directional dummy may be developed combining the features of frontal and side impact dummies. This task has not been started due to the difficulties seen in making this type of dummy repeatable and reliable. It may come about due to testing requirements in oblique impacts combining frontal and side impact.

Success in frontal impact protection lead to the desire to protect vehicle occupants in side impacts. Facing different challenges the dummy designers and automotive test engineers used these dummies to expand the range of protection.