Project Areas

Passenger Cars

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Assessment of Vehicles for Small Drivers

Analyses of UK accident statistics and travel patterns indicate that women are more likely than men to be involved in a collision when driving. Previous studies have also indicated that females are more vulnerable to injury than men and that drivers of small stature also exhibit a higher risk of injury.

When considering the shorter population there is an automatic bias towards females, as naturally women are seen to be shorter than men. To address these issues, Cranfield Impact Centre have been sub-contracted by VSRC, through funding by the Department for Transport (DfT), to assess the performance of small drivers when involved in crashes.

One of the programme's tasks was to construct a finite element model of a small driver seated in a driver’s seat with relevant seatbelt and airbag. The driver was subject to a number of different crash pulses and seating configurations and the effect of the airbag deployment on dummy injuries was obtained.