• Journal of Korean Institute of Industrial Engineers
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.25-36
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• 1992

A possible adverse effect on the likelihood of front-seat occupant fatalities from unbelted rear-seat occupants in frontal crashes is investigated using Fatal Accident Reporting System data. Passenger cars which sustained frontal damage and which did not roll over are included in this analysis. Of the frontally damaged cars, only cars containing a driver and a right-front passenger are selected. Then, from these cars, the following three cases are considered: a) left-rear occupant present, b) right-rear occupant present, and c) no one else in the car. Cars belonging to a) or b) contain only three occupants, and those belonging to the last case contain only two occupants. In addition, all occupants are unbelted. To estimate the influence of rear-seat occupants on front-seat occupant fatalities, relative risks of driver and right-front passenger fatalities are compared pairwise across these three cases. The adverse influence of unbelted rear-seat occupants on the likelihood of unbelted front-seat occupant fatalities in frontal crashes is estimated to be 7.9% ${\pm}$ 45%(the error limits indicate one standard error). In other words, front-seat occupant fatalities are increased 7.9% in frontal crashes due to the loadings from unbelted rear-seat occupants. This suggests that the usage of safety belts by rear-seat occupants not only may extend their own lives but also helps in reducing the fatalities of front-seat occupants seated in front of them.

• Journal of Auto-vehicle Safety Association
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.45-50
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• 2015

The protection of frontal seat passengers in both driver and front seated occupant has been more focused from the auto industries as well as regulatory bodies more than 40 years. Recently, their interests have been extended to rear seat occupants especially children and female occupants. However, the current available safety devices for the rear seat occupants are seat belt only. According to the previous researchers, the injury level of the rear seat passengers tend to be higher than the injury level of the frontal seat passengers. In this study, the optimal location of seat belts anchorages to enhance rear passengers crashworthiness are studied. FEM models are designed in accordance with regulation of KMVSS102, UN R44, UN R16, and UN R14. and three point belts are fitted on the HybridIII 5th percentile dummy and HybridIII 50th percentile dummy. The combined injury value used HIC15, Nij, Chest deflection, Femur force are used to evaluate rear seat belt anchorage optimal locations.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.130-138
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• 2000

The position of the automobile seat back is very important for the neck injury in the rear-end collisions. The effects of the position have been evaluated experimentally. A sled simulator is utilized with a velocity of 33 km/h. The position is varied by the angle of seat back from 25 to 65 degrees. All the configurations of the seat are fixed except the angle. The neck injuries are calculated by the equations accepted in the industries. Also, the sled tests with other velocities are carried out for the comparison study. Using the results of the test, the effects of seat back strength are discussed to minimize the occupant neck injury in rear end collisions.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.205-212
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• 2003

This paper may provide a basic design data for the safer car seat mechanism and the quality of the material used by finding out the passenger's dynamic behavior when protected by seat belt during collision. A computer simulation with finite element method is used to accomplish this objective. At first, a detailed geometric model of the seat is constructed using CAD program. The formation of a finite element from a geometric data of the seat is carried out using Hyper-Mesh that is the commercial software for mesh generation and post processing. In addition to seat modeling, the finite element model of seat belt and dummy is formed using the same software. Rear impact analysis is accomplished using Pam-Crash with crash pulse. The part of the recliner and right frame is under big stress in rear crash analysis because the acceleration force is exerted on the back of the seat by dummy. The stress condition of the part of the bracket is checked as well because it is considered as an important variable on the seat design. Front impact model which including dummy and seal belt is analyzed. A Part of anchor buckle of seat frame has high stress distribution because of retraction force due to forward motion of dummy at the moment of collision. On the basis of the analysis result, remodeling and reanalysis works had been repeatedly done until a satisfactory result is obtained.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.54-61
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• 2013

Although typically classified as AIS 1, whiplash injuries continue to represent a substantial social problem with associated costs estimated at over $1 billion annually. The primary objective of this study was to determine the effects of seat positions(seatback angle, headrest height) on risk for whiplash injury in very low speed(${\Delta}V$=4~10km/h) rear-end impact. To accomplish this, rear impact seat carriage tests and simulations were conducted using the BioRID-II dummy seated in a mass production seat, which allowed for the adjustment of seatback angle and headrest height. Neck injury criteria(NIC, Nkm) were then compared for different ${\Delta}V$ and seat positions.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.203-209
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• 2014

The rear center-hinge bracket is designed for supporting and folding the rear-seat backrest. This bracket needs to be strong enough to be able to rigidly hold the rear-seat backrest and to withstand luggage loads from the car trunk that are generated when a vehicle is driving on the roads. Particularly, current accident studies report that many serious occupant injuries occurred when the rear-seat back easily folded inward toward the car interior, driven by the luggage loads in the trunk. Given this fact, the robust design of the rear center-hinge bracket that mainly supports the rear backrest has become more important for providing customer safety and preventing high warranty and durability problems. However, none of the studies have emphasized its significant role and considered its robust optimization. Therefore, this paper presents how the hinge-bracket design is optimized based on an application of the finite-element method coupled with the parameter design using Taguchi's design experiment. Finally, Taguchi method's application optimizes a robust center-hinge bracket that shows more rigid performance although it has lighter weight and thinner thickness.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.7 no.9
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• pp.182-194
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• 1999

Occupant injury in rear end impact is rapidly becoming one of the most aggravating traffic safety problems with high human suffering and societal costs. Although rear end impact occurs at relatively low speed , it may cause permanent disability due to neck injuries resulting from an abrupt moment, shear force , and tension/compression force at the occipital condyles. The analysis is performed for a combined occupant-eat model response, using the SAFE(Safety Analysis for occupant crash Environment) computer program. The computational results are verified by those from sled tests. A parameter study is conducted for many physical and mechanical properties. Seat design has been performed based on the design of experiment process with respect to five parameters; seat-back upholstery stiffness, torsional stiffness of the seat-back. An orthogonal array is selected from the parameter study. A good design has been found from the analysis results based on the orthogonal array. The results show that reductions of stiffness in seat-back upholstery and joint are the most effective for preventing neck injuries.

• International Journal of Automotive Technology
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.67-73
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• 2007

This study analyzes the interior noise that is generated during acceleration of a passenger car in terms of car body structure and panel contribution. According to the transfer method, interior noise is classified into structure-borne noise and air-borne noise. Structure-borne noise is generated when the engine's vibration energy, an excitation source, is transferred to the car body through the engine mount and the driving system and the panel of the car body vibrates. When structure-borne noise resonates in the acoustic cavity of the car interior, acute booming noise is generated. This study describes plans for improving the car body structure and the panel form through a cause analysis of frequency ranges where the sound pressure level of the rear seat relative to the front seat is high. To this end, an analysis of the correlation between body attachment stiffness and acoustic sensitivity as well as a panel sensitive component analysis were conducted through a structural sound field coupled analysis. Through this study, via research on improving the car body structure in terms of reducing rear seat noise, stable performance improvement and light weight design before the proto-car stage can be realized. Reduction of the development period and test car stage is also anticipated.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.67-75
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• 2011

A new energy absorbing mechanism for car seat was developed to reduce the neck injury in rear impacts. Energy absorbing principle is based on the shear-bolt behavior of thin-walled cast components subjected to static and dynamic loads. Results of shear bolt test using AM60 of Mg alloys showed robust behavior giving an approximately constant mean force during failure processes. Simply designed energy absorbing mechanism was assembled with the recliner between seat backs and seat rails. We have simulated the sled test of seat with dummy under the rear end impact using the finite element method. Results of simulation show that the new seat mechanism reduces thorax acceleration to a considerable extent, but it is not sufficient to mitigate neck injury indices e.g. neck shear force, neck tension force and NIC. With heightened headrest and narrowed backset, the energy absorbing mechanism resulted in good performance of protecting the neck injuries.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2010.05a
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• pp.857-858
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• 2010