OREANDA-NEWS. Toyota Motor Corporation has added three new models to represent children aged ten, six, and three to Version 4 of its Total Human Model for Safety (THUMS) virtual crash dummy software. THUMS allows injuries sustained by human bodies during vehicle crashes to be simulated on computer, and sales of the new models will begin from this autumn.

THUMS is able to forecast the extent of injuries sustained throughout the human body, and thus, is utilized in the technological development of passenger protection devices such as airbags, and to contribute to improved vehicle safety performance. THUMS is also increasingly being used in the field of motorsports. For example, it has been used by NASCAR (the U.S.-based National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing) to formulate regulations for seat shapes that are better able to reduce the likelihood of rib fractures sustained in drivers as a result of racing accidents.

The ten-year old (138cm tall), six-year old (118cm tall) and three-year old (94cm tall) additions to THUMS Version 4 represent the average physiques of children at each respective age. As with the large male (189cm tall), average-build adult male (179cm tall), and small female (153cm tall) models that are already being sold, the new models will come in two versions?a passenger version and a pedestrian version?for a total of six new additions to the THUMS line-up. This expanded line-up takes into consideration the influence of age and physique, and allows for a more thorough injury analysis.

The newly launched child-spec models were created as a result of collaborative research between Wayne State University, the University of Michigan, and the Collaborative Safety Research Center* located in the Toyota Technical Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan.