The effect of age and bracing on vehicle occupant responses during sled-simulated evasive swerving

Objective: Bracing can reduce adult occupants’ out-of-position postures, but it is unclear if this finding can be extended to child occupants. We investigated the effect of bracing, and age on the motion of vehicle occupants of different ages during sled-simulated pre-crash maneuvers. Methods: Forty seatbelt restrained subjects (9–40 y.o.) experienced sled simulated evasive swerving maneuvers during a brace condition, where subjects actively brace before the maneuver onset, and an unbraced condition. A 3D motion capture system, electromyography (EMG), and seatbelt load cells captured head and trunk kinematics, muscle activation, and seat belt reaction forces, respectively. The effects of age and bracing on peak lateral head and trunk displacement were examined with Mixed Effects Model (p ≤ 0.05). Results: In the braced condition, all subjects had reduced normalized peak head (0.09 ± 0.05) and trunk (0.11 ± 0.05) displacements compared to the unbraced condition (Head: 0.14 ± 0.06, Trunk: 0.17 ± 0.07) (p © 2024 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.