ADSEAT – Adaptive seat to reduce neck injuries for female and male occupants

•We developed EvaRID, the world's first virtual crash test dummy of an average female.•Specified anthropometric data of an average female crash test dummy model.•Performed dynamic volunteer sled tests comprising females and males.•Suggested new whiplash injury criteria limits for female occupants in rear-impact testing.•Showed differences in car seat protection performance when using male and female occupant models.

Neck injuries sustained in low severity vehicle crashes are of worldwide concern and the risk is higher for females than for males. The objective of the study was to provide guidance on how to evaluate protective performance of vehicle seat designs aiming to reduce the incidence of neck injuries for female and male occupants. The objective was achieved by reviewing injury risk, establishing anthropometric data of an average female, performing dynamic volunteer tests comprising females and males, and developing a finite element model, EvaRID, of an average female. With respect to injury criteria, it was concluded based on the tests that using NIC (with a lower threshold value) and Nkm (with reduced intercept values) for females would be a suitable starting point. Virtual impact simulations with seats showed that differences were found in the response of the BioRID II and EvaRID models, for certain seats.