• Journal of Auto-vehicle Safety Association
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.5-10
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• 2011

Under the full frontal crash event, seatbelt system is the most typical and primary restraint device that prevents the second impact between an occupant and vehicle interior parts by limiting the forward motion of an occupant in the vehicle occupant packaging space. Today's restraint systems typically include the three-point seat belt with the pretensioner and the load limiter. A pretensioner preemptively tightens the seat belts removing any slack between a passenger and belt webbing which leads to early restraint of a passenger. After that a load limiter controls level of belt load by releasing the belt webbing to reduce occupant injurys. In this study, load characteristics of load limiters are optimized by the computer simulation with a MADYMO model for a frontal impact against the rigid wall at 56kph and then we suggest performance requirements. We derived optimum load characteristic from the results using four vehicle simulation models represented by the vehicle. Based on the results, we suggest the performance from the results of the second optimization using the simulation considering the design and the standardization. Finally, the performance requirements is verified by the sled tests including the load limiter device for the full vehicle condition.