Implementation and evaluation of automotive child restraint systems in mass transit buses

Abstract

Mass transportation systems and specifically bus systems are a key element of the national transportation network. Buses are one of the safest forms of transportation. Nonetheless, bus crashes resulting in occupant injuries and fatalities do occur. Each year, more than 5,800 children die, nearly 120,000 are permanently disabled, and more than 14 million are hurt seriously enough to require emergency medical care due to unintentional injury. Therefore, effort is needed to improve the performance of bus interior and structure. Child Safety is a continuing effort to improve the safety of children in mass transit buses. This project provides an overview of the implementation of two types of attachment systems Child Restraint Systems (CRS) in a mass transit buses. A series of sled tests were conducted in order to evaluate the performance of the Child Restraint Systems for typical frontal, side and rear crash scenarios. The results of the test indicate that the implementation of ISOFIX or LATCH attachments in transit bus seats mitigates the risk of severe injuries to the 12 month-old, and 3 year-old occupants; while not increasing the risk of severe injuries due to CRS interactions to other unrestraint adult passengers. In the next phase of this research, results from these sled tests were validated using the multibody analysis tool MADYMO to evaluate the performance of child safety in mass transit buses using the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS 208) injury criteria. The Kinematics of sled tests are closely matching with that of simulations. Injury values for sled tests and simulations are well below injury criteria. The results from this study show the 20 % variation in injury signals. This study concludes that interior for mass transit bus with child seats and restraint can be utilized in mass transit buses to improve the safety performance of children.