Abstract
Although current safety systems in passenger cars which include seat belts, frontal airbags, and more recently side airbags, are effective means in reducing injury in the case of accidents, there is still much room for improvement on existing systems, or addition of new ones. This paper introduces a novel system that can be added to existing designs to further reduce the injuries sustained in automobile accidents. The design calls for absorbing some of the crash energy by allowing the seat to move with respect to the chassis through a limited distance. As a result, the impact profile is affected, and therefore, the severity of the crash is reduced. Simulation runs on a simple passenger model at 35 mph have shown a reduction of HIC (Head Injury Criteria) from 1300 to 450 when this design is implemented.
