2134/1855 Ruth Welsh Ruth Welsh James Watson James Watson An assessment of airbag deployments for small drivers Loughborough University 2006 untagged Design Practice and Management not elsewhere classified 2006-05-24 11:35:57 Online resource https://repository.lboro.ac.uk/articles/online_resource/An_assessment_of_airbag_deployments_for_small_drivers/9351497 Accident studies have shown airbags to be effective in reducing the likelihood and severity of serious head injury for drivers in the event of a crash. There remains, however, the potential for adverse injury outcome in cases where an early contact is made with a partially deployed airbag. This is of particular concern for smaller drivers who may need to adopt a more forward seating position in order to adequately drive their vehicle. Finite element modelling, using a 5th percentile female model has been used to explore the interaction of the head with the airbag for a variety of seating positions and frontal impact severities. The results have been used to determine, for a typical European passenger car, the distance required between the chest and the steering wheel to avoid head contact with the airbag prior to full deployment.