Overview: The reduced tolerance of older people to crash loads is a growing concern with a major expansion in older people using cars. The BOSCOS project was designed to assess the feasibility of modifying seat belt loading characteristics according to occupant injury tolerance. This was a 2.5 year DfT Foresight Vehicle Project involving 2 UK universities and 4 industrial partners.
Objectives: The project was set up to assess the potential benefits of a variable load limiting seat belt system using information on individual chest injury tolerance.
Main project features: Development of a bone scanning device suitable for mounting in a real car. Assessment of real world benefits using bone density information to tailor seat belt load limiting for older vehicle occupants.
Role of the VSRC: The VSRC developed the real world crash scenarios used for computer simulation of the BOSCOS system. In addition we developed the methodology for “read-across” of dummy output to real injuries and subsequent assessment of benefits. A minimum 20% reduction in chest injury costs was achieved.
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