Seat Belts and Air Bags are highly effective in saving lives and reducing serious impact injury to the occupant in the event of a collision or sudden deceleration. Accordingly, car safety belts, seat belts, are designed to provide a system of straps with a securing buckle anchored to the vehicle’s interior to control occupant motion. When used properly in combination with a deploying airbag, the likelihood of reducing occupant contact forces with the vehicle’s interior components is significant. Nevertheless, the effectiveness of airbag deployment and seatbelt utilization for the “out-of-position” (OOP) occupant, child or small adult remains controversial.

MADYMO provides an invaluable mathematical simulation tool to analyze the effectiveness of various restraint systems which may include vehicle safety belts and airbags. This information is invaluable in support of seat belt injury analysis and air bag failure analysis as it relates to air bag lawsuits and seat belt lawsuits. Some examples of restraint system modeling using MADYMO include:

• 2 & 3 dimensional seat belt models for shoulder and 3-point restraint systems
• Single and multiple Finite Element belt models
• Belt geometry, retractor and pretension modeling
• 2 & 3 dimensional belt forces
• Belt stitch “tearing” using Fuse Belt models
• Finite element airbag model
• Air Bag geometry
• Air Bag contact forces
• Air Bag finite element mesh model
• Air Bag inflation process model including inflator and gas jet modeling tools
• Air Bag triggering sensors
• Thermal properties of airbag gases