Development and Evaluation of a New Rear-Impact Crash Dummy: The RID2

Low severity neck injuries due to vehicle accidents are a serious problem in our society. In 1997 the European Whiplash project started with the aim to develop passive safety methodologies to reduce the frequency of neck injuries in rear-end impacts. This project has resulted, among others, in a rear impact crash dummy, the so-called RID2. The objective of this paper is present the design of this dummy and to present its performance in comparison with human volunteer and post mortem human subject (PMHS) tests. Also a comparison is made with the Hybrid III dummy in similar test conditions. In the comparison with human volunteers in a real car seat, both the RID2 and the Hybrid III showed realistic kinematics. Lower neck rotation as well as the typical S-shape in the neck were found in the RID2, but not in the Hybrid III dummy. Ramping up was not found in the Hybrid III, while the RID2 did show limited ramping up. The upper neck forces measured in both dummies were reasonably good in the regular car seat, but upper neck torques were not well predicted in either dummy. Compared to post mortem human subjects placed on a rigid seat without a head restraint, the Hybrid III was found to be less biofidelic than the RID2, as the kinematics of the human subjects were better approximated by the RID2 than by the Hybrid III, which was mainly attributed to the stiff spine and neck of the Hybrid III.