Integrated Seat Belt System Model Development

Bridges, Wade; Ganesan, Velayudham; Barki, Ganapathi; Jayakumar, Praneshkumar; Davies, James; Umashankar, Sathish Kumar Manjula · 2022 · ROSA P / United States. Department of Transportation. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

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Summary

This report details the development and validation of a finite element (FE) model for a production automotive seat with an integrated seat belt (ISS), motivated by the need to simulate occupant safety in autonomous vehicles where varied seating orientations are possible. Sponsored by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and conducted by EDAG, Inc., the study focused on the second-row seat of a 2019 Honda Odyssey. The primary objective was to create a high-fidelity LS-DYNA FE model capable of predicting seat deformation and occupant kinematics during high-severity frontal and rear-impact crashes. The methodology involved a two-phase approach. In Phase 1, researchers acquired, tore down, and measured the seat components, including frames, tracks, recliners, and cushions. They developed the baseline FE model using scanned CAD data and material property tests. Validation began with quasi-static testing: rearward pull tests applied loads up to 20,000 N until structural collapse, while forward pull tests applied loads to torso, lap, and center-of-gravity blocks until failure. The FE model’s deformation patterns and force-displacement curves were compared against physical test data using the CORA correlation tool. Phase 2 involved dynamic sled testing to validate the model under crash conditions. Tests included an FMVSS No. 301 rear-impact scenario using a BioRID-II dummy and five additional sled tests using a THOR-50M dummy. These dynamic tests evaluated occupant injury criteria and kinematics at 18° and 45° seat back angles during frontal impacts (40–56 kph) and rear impacts (27 kph). The results demonstrated strong correlation between the FE simulations and physical tests. For the quasi-static rearward pull test, the force-displacement curves achieved an 82% correlation rating, with the model accurately capturing frame deformation and recliner mechanism failure. The forward pull test yielded an average correlation rating of 72% across torso, lap, and center-of-gravity blocks, confirming accurate representation of seat stiffness and deformation. In dynamic simulations, the FE model successfully replicated occupant kinematics and injury metrics, including Head Injury Criterion (HIC) and Neck Injury Criterion (NIC), across various impact severities and recline angles. The model accurately predicted seat behavior and occupant response in both frontal and rear-impact scenarios. The significance of this work lies in the provision of a validated, publicly available FE model for an ISS seat, addressing a gap in simulation resources for autonomous vehicle safety research. By confirming that the model can reliably predict occupant injury and kinematics in non-standard seating positions, the study supports the development of safety standards and vehicle designs for future autonomous mobility. The detailed correlation between simulation and physical testing ensures the model’s utility for further crashworthiness studies involving integrated seat belt systems.

Key finding

The finite element model of the integrated seat belt system demonstrated acceptable correlation with physical static and dynamic test data, validating its use for simulating occupant injury in frontal and rear impacts.

Methodology

simulator

Provenance

The full processing record for this entry. Every stage of this paper's journey through the pipeline is logged — what ran, with which tool and model, how many attempts it took, and when it last completed. Discovered via bulk_ingest_rosap on 2026-05-23 (6 acquisition events logged).

Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant on 2026-06-10; verification: verified.

Topics

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• seat belt use