EUROPEAN COMMISSION. DG RTD. SEVENTH FRAMEWORK PROGRAMME, THEME 7 TRANSPORT SST.2007.4.1.2: Human physical and behavioural components. GA No. 218516

Although the number of road fatalities in Europe has declined by about 45 percent since 2001, further efforts are required to make European roads even safer. Although efforts are needed on all aspects of road safety, the THORAX Project is focused on reduction and prevention of thoracic trauma, this being one of the leading types of severe and fatal injuries to occupants in car crashes. One of the scientific and technological objectives identified for the THORAX Project is to produce a mechanical demonstrator consisting of a new dummy thorax and shoulder design capable of representing identified injury mechanisms under real world loading conditions developed and implemented in a THOR-NT frontal crash test dummy. To confirm that the demonstrators meet their design requirements and the relevant objectives of the THORAX Project, the demonstrators have been evaluated by project partners in a broad series of tests. This report documents the evaluation of three THORAX Project Demonstrator dummies in a series of tests as defined in the biofidelity requirements laid out in an earlier report from the project. The tests were designed to replicate, as closely as possible original tests with human subjects (PMHSs [post-mortem human subjects] or volunteers). By repeating tests with the demonstrators the dummy performance was compared with the previous PMHS and volunteer test results and the biofidelity requirements.