Linder et al 06/07/00 1 EVALUATION OF THE BioRID P3 AND THE HYBRID III IN PENDULUM IMPACTS TO THE BACK- A COMPARISON TO HUMAN SUBJECT TEST DATA Astrid Linder 1 , Ulf Bergman 1 , Mats Svensson 1 , David Viano 1,2,3 1 Chalmers University of Technology, Göteborg, Sweden 2 Wayne State University, Detroit 3 Saab Automobile, AB ABSTRACT The BioRID P3 (Biofidelic Rear Impact Dummy) and the Hybrid III were evaluated in pendulum impacts to the back and compared to data from previous cadaver tests. The test setup impacting seated cadavers was reproduced with a pendulum impacting seated dummies at the level of T6 (6th thoracic vertebra). The pendulum mass was 23 kg and the impact velocity 4.6 m/s. The results showed that the BioRID P3 was more biofidelic than the Hybrid III in terms of the peak responses and the temporal window of the head and head relative to T1 horizontal, vertical, and angular displacement. This study is an evaluation of both the BioRID P3 and the Hybrid III against a recently available set of human subject data. The study meets the need for validation of the BioRID P3 at a higher impact severity than has been previously accomplished. Low velocity impacts causing soft tissue neck injuries are frequent and increasing both in total number and in relative frequency [van Kampen, 1993; Ono and Kanno, 1993; von Kock et al., 1994; Morris et al., 1996; Ono and Kaneoka, 1997; Krafft, 1998]. For rear end impacts these injuries occur at low velocity changes, typically between 10-25 km/h [Hell et al., 1998; Eischberger et al., 1996]. Rear end impacts crashes are increasing, as reported by Watanabe et al. [2000]. To assess neck injury protection in cars, human-like crash test dummies are needed. The crash test dummy BioRID, was developed with focus on head and head relative to torso kinematics in low velocity rear end impacts.