Car accident news
12/04/2011

Digital child research to reduce passenger injury toll

With young people being the most frequent victims of a car accident, a development by car manufacturer Ford is aimed at reducing the rate of child passenger injury and their consequences for both parents and children in terms of disability and the justification for compensation.

Having spent nearly ten years creating an exact replica of an adult human body, which includes finely detailed analysis of the brain, skull, neck, ribs and limbs, as a means of studying the effects of a car crash, its team of researchers is now moving on to build a digital child.

The senior technical leader for safety at Ford Research and Advanced Engineering said the model would be used in computerised testing to evaluate the type of injuries children could suffer in a vehicle crash, and then find ways to reduce the harm caused.

He added, "The more you know about the human body, the more we can consider how to make our restraint systems even better.

"A child's body is very different from an adult's. Building a digital human model of a child will help us design future systems that offer better protection for our young passengers."

Any adults or children who suffer passenger injury in a non-fault car accident could claim compensation for their pain and any loss of earnings.