Passenger restraints

As an example, we describe the work flow for developing an angular-rate sensor, which is implemented in automobile navigation systems as a supplementary inertial-detection system in addition to GPS. (Sensors of similar design are also used in passenger-restraint systems for rollover detection.)... 

Passenger restraints and airbags contribute to lowering injury and death rates in vehicles accidents. Failure to have or use restraints increases occupant risks. 

Vehicles designed to absorb energy and reduce the transfer of forces to the occupants will reduce the second crash. Passenger restraints and air bags reduce the likelihood of the second impact. Well-anchored seats help minimize the second crash. A seat that comes loose from its anchors can add mass behind the passenger in a frontal crash. Unrestrained seat backs that separate from the lower portion of a seat add to the load carried by an occupant in the second crash. 

The transformation of the car interior over the last 20 years has been closely involved with safety legislation. The introduction of resilient plastic skin materials with foam backing, together with sophisticated nylon and acetal-based seat passenger restraint systems, has delivered all that has been asked for, at the present level of passenger packaging requirements. 

Proper use of lap and shoulder belts is critical to protecting passengers in automobiles seats. A similar level of crash protection is required for individuals who remain in their wheelchairs during transportation. Wheelchairs are flexible, higher than a standard automobile seat, and not fixed to the vehicle. The passenger is restrained using a harness of at least one belt to provide pelvic restraint and two shoulder or torso belts that restrain both shoulders. A head support may also be used to prevent rearward motion of the head during impact or rebound. A three point restraint is the combination of a lap belt and a shoulder belt (e.g., pelvic torso restraint, lap-sash restraint, lap-shoulder restraint). 

The relationship between injury criteria and the mechanics of restraint systems are important to insure the safety of wheelchair users in motor vehicles. Hip and head deflection are often used criteria for determining potential injury. The automotive industry has invested considerable effort for research and development to protect vehicle passengers. Research is not nearly extensive for the passenger who remains seated in a wheelchair while traveling. Many wheelchair and occupant restraint systems copy the designs used for standard automobile seats. However, this type of design may not be appropriate. 

A type of vehicle restraint system that consists of inflatable bags monnted in the interior of a vehicle that automatically inflate npon a collision to protect the occn-pants from injury. They are designed for frontal impact crashes. This type of crash accounts for more than half of all passenger vehicle occupant deaths. Air bags are designed to limit head and chest injnries. They are considered only supplemental to safety belts they do not replace them. 

Restraint systems n. An end use for textile fibers restraint systems are devices such as air bags, seat belts, and shoulder harnesses for passenger protection in automobile, trucks, airplanes, etc. 

Crashworthiness and integrity of passenger compartments permit race car drivers to survive crashes at very high speeds. Special restraint features in race cars, including helmet restraints that protect the neck, have added to race driver safety. Many of the features tested in racing vehicles find their way into commercial vehicles. Crashworthiness has improved in most cars over the years. Improved design features have contributed to the reduction in crash injuries and occupant deaths. 

Automotive Air Bag Passive automotive restraint consisting of a bag made of flexible material that inflates upon sensing a collision and prevents passengers from pitching forward or from side to side, depending on the type and position of the air bs. ... 

Mercer, G.W. 1987. Influences on passenger vehicle casnalty accident frequency and severity Unemployment, driver gender, driver age, drinking driving and restraint device use. Accident Analysis and Prevention, 19, 231—236. 

Active restraints are oecupant restraints that are effective only if the driver activates fiiem. The prime example is seat belt. By far the greatest contributor to injury reduction in file past few decades is the occupants use of seat belts. The current retracting three-point seat belt provides much more protection than the early fixed lap belts. But despite their proven effectiveness, some drivers and passengers are still reluctant to use them. 

Figure 10-5, Use of seat belts by car drivers and front seat passengers in Finland 1966-1995. Changes in front seat belt use rate as a function of change in belt laws and their enforcement (from WHO, 2004. Original source Seat-belts and child restraints increasing use and optimising performance. European Transport Safety Council, 1996 with permission of ETSC).

Starnes, M. (2005). Child Passenger Fatalities and Injuries, Based on Restraint Use, Vehicle Type, Seat Position, and Number of Vehicles in the crash. NHTSA Report DOT HS 809 784. U.S. Department of Transportation, Washington DC. 

The methods discussed earlier are applied to the seat-occupant-restraint system of an aircraft. To improve passenger safety, the design and the arrangement of the seats. 

Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard Number 208 was one of the 20 initial vehicle safety standards issued in 1967. It required installation of lap and upper torso restraint belts in each front outboard seat of most cars and lap restraint belts in every other seating position. The requirement has changed several times over the last two decades. Manual seat belts were and are available in almost all cars in use but only a minority of passenger car occupants use belts. In order to increase usage for model year 1973 cars a continuous light and buzzer remained on until the front seat belts were fastened. Next, the seat belt-ignition interlock did induce an increase in safety... 

The new passive restraints rule requires automatic occupant protection in the front outboard positions in all passenger automobiles by September 1, 1989, with a phased-in schedule be nning on September 1,1986. The phase-in schedule requires an increasing share of the cars manufactured for sale in the U. S. to have passive restraints as follows 10 percent of all cars manufactured after September 1,1986,25 percent of all cars manufactured after September 1, 1987, 40 percent of all cars manufactured after September 1, 1988, and 100 percent of all cars manufactured after September 1,1989. 

Just as imperfections can be found in the traffic safety behavior of individual travelers so can imperfections be found in the formulation and implementation of traffic safety policy. Vehicle technology has been emphasized at the expense of nontechnological safety measures. Safety of passenger car occupants has been emphasized at the expense of other travelers. Net benefits of crashworthiness standards such as mandatory passive restraints have been exaggerated because safety gains are overestimated and some costs are ignored. The Dole Rule on passive restraints only partly satisfies the five criteria for analytical acceptability. 

Real world coUisions are not always covered by standards. For example, crash tests on road restraint systems (crash barriers) can go only some of the way in predicting how vehicles (and their passengers) will perform in the wide variety of impact speeds and angles that can happen in real crashes. 

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