The Effectiveness of Swiveling Seats in Protecting Reclined Occupants in Highly Autonomous Driving Environments during Frontal Crashes

Abstract

High-tilt reclined seats are one of the most popular configurations in highly automated vehicles; however, current restraint systems cannot protect out-of-position occupants in this type of seat. To reduce the risk of injury to reclined occupants, this study proposes a swiveling seat driven by occupant inertia and rotated in the sagittal plane during impact. The effectiveness of the swiveling seat was evaluated based on kinematics and injury to a human biomechanical model in a frontal sled test. A simulation matrix was constructed to design and optimize various safety devices, including the belt, pre-tensioner, knee constraint, and rotation stiffness for the swiveling seat. The results showed that (1) submarining occurred when the reclined occupant was on a fixed seat with a normal three-point belt during impact; (2) a fixed seat with a dynamic locking tongue and passenger lap pretension prevented the submarining, but produced a high lumbar force of 5359 N, which was higher than the spine injury criterion; and (3) the proposed swiveling seat with a matched restraint system could prevent submarining and produce lumbar force of 1787 N. The results demonstrated that the swiveling seat has high potential for occupant protection in intelligent driving scenarios.