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Ford "Virtual Child" Looks To Keep Kids Safer In Cars

by Jeff Gilbert
WWJ AutoBeat Reporter

Ford is developing what it calls the "virtual child," in an attempt to learn very specifically how a child's body reacts to the type of stresses put on it during a crash.

"This virtual child will allow us to better understand how a real human interacts with a restraint system," says Dr. Steve Rouhana, Ford's senior technical leader for passive safety.

The virtual child will not replace crash test dummies, says Ford, but will add to the information they get from testing. Rouhana says it will also allow researchers to do more tests than they could have done before.

"We'll have 15 different ideas for restraint system tweaking," he said. "We can test all of those in the virtual world and come up with the best 3 or 4 that we then take to the physical laboratory, and run a physical test with it."

Ford researchers are currently working with a virtual adult model. It took them 11 years to develop that computer simulation. They are currently going over measurements, MRI's and other body scans to come up with the virtual child. The company says this project should go faster, but it will still take years.

The virtual models are incredibly detailed, and show researchers far more about the effects of crash impacts than they get from the sensors on crash test dummies.

"Today's crash test dummies will tell us generally, there might be a chest injury, or there might be a head industry," said Rouhana. "With this model, we can say 'There might be a brain injury in the corpus callosum in the brain, or an injury in the right ventricle of the heart.' Very specific detailed information about the internal organs of the child's body."

In the latest year where there's information available, 2009, 1300 children died in car crashes. That includes pedestrians. Rouhana is hoping the information they get from this project will reduce that number, and give children more protection.

"As my colleagues those are the top three priorities, 'protect the head, protect the head, protect the head.' Kids tend to die from head injuries in crashes."

Follow Jeff Gilbert on Twitter @jefferygilbert

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