A Study of Countermeasures for Upper Interior Head Impact

Impact-resistant trim covers on vehicle pillars can aid in reducing HIC(d) (Head Injury Criterion, dummy) during upper interior headform impact. Reductions in HIC(d) also can be aided by an air-gap (i.e. packaging space) between trim and a typical pillar inner panel usually made of steel. For a given packaging space, further lowering of HIC(d) is possible using additional countermeasures such as crushable foam and integrally molded trim ribs which are discussed in this paper. The potential effectiveness of foams of different strengths and integrated ribs for trim is assessed via nonlinear finite element modeling and transient dynamic analysis using a commercial package (RADIOSS). Some comparisons between analysis and test results are also presented.