Citation

Ziffer D, Bruckner F, Henn R, Spann W. Proc. Am. Assoc. Automot. Med. Annu. Conf. 1970; 11(1967): 154-162.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1970, Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This report deals with the kinematics of injuries to the cervical and upper thoracic spine and the base of skull during impact on different types of safety glazing used in motorcar construction. In general, safety glazing is judged by its optical properties following a crash, also by the danger of injuries to the eyes, the skin and the blood vessels. With conventional laminated glass, the danger of glass splinters encircling the neck of an occupant who has penetrated the laminated safety glass in a crash is taken into account. This phenomenon has led to numerous severe injuries.

For this reason a laminated glass was developed recently whose foil or inter-layer is about twice as thick as that in previous, conventional laminations. Thanks to this new foil, the kinetic energy required to penetrate this type of glass is considerably increased as this foil is both highly deformable and mechanically very resistant. In penetrating crashes, however, the occupant's head generally is not severed from the body, that is the head does not perform a solitary leap against the windscreen; instead, according to the kinematics of crash, a varying portion of the rest of the body continues to push or force the head further into or through the windscreen. The main components of the human body transmitting these pushing forces are the upper thoracic spine and next the cervical portion of the skull base connected with the spinal column.

In judging the function of safety glass, we are interested in behavior of W these components of the body during impacts on various types of glazing. Both tempered and laminated safety glass were examined.