Driver Injury During Automatic Emergency Steering in Vehicle–Vehicle Side-Impact Collisions

Automatic emergency steering (AES) is an advanced assisted driving system. AES systems help avoid collisions by controlling the lateral movement of a vehicle. However, in some scenarios—such as those involving a laterally approaching vehicle that cannot be detected by AES sensors owing to the vehicle’s obstruction by an obstacle—AES systems do not have sufficient time to act, and side impact may still occur. Limited research has been conducted on driver impairment analysis under the influence of AES. This study investigated driver kinematic responses and injuries after side impact following the AES. First, the study was based on accident cases in the National Automobile Accident In-Depth Investigation System database; a precrash scenario involving AES was established using the PreScan software. Second, a finite element model subjected to side impact was established in HyperMesh; a validated driver restraint system was added to the model. The effects of the impact angle, impact location, and ride posture on driver responses and injuries were investigated. It appears that as the impact angle increases, the forces on the abdomen tend to decrease. When the impact angle is 60°, the abdominal combined force APF is 2638N, which exceeds the threshold value. We have got the weighted injury criterion (WIC) for five angles: 60°, 75°, 90°, 105°, and 120°. Their values are 0.485, 0.393, 0.408, 0.200, and 0.158. The impact location had WIC values of 0.230, 0.407, and 0.228 for pillars A, B, and C, respectively; the WIC values for normal and left-toward positions were 0.492 and 0.407 respectively. Finally, the effects of an active seat belt pre-tensioning system on driver responses and injuries under various lateral accelerations were also investigated. These results contribute to a reference for investigating scenarios of AES or integrated technology of vehicle active and passive safety.