Simplified Test Bench Used to Reproduce Child Facial Damage During a Frontal Collision

Around 186,300 children died from unintentional accidental injuries each year (Li et al. in Public Health 144:S57–S61, 2017 [1]). The main cause of death was head injuries. There is a lack of studies about face injuries in children due to a crash impact. The present research focuses on the design of an innovative test bench capable to assess damage in children during a vehicular collision trying to simulate a facial frontal impact. FMVSS 208 standard was considered to design the test bench. In addition, Asimov Morris methodology was used to build a simplified impact platform (Hollowell et al. in NHTSA Docket, 1999 [2]). Kinovea^® software was applied to obtain speed and acceleration parameters for the test bench and these parameters by videogrametry. The outcome shows a simplified system that uses gravity force blending with elastic bands to reach a collision speed. These associations avoid the need to create a mechanism with large dimensions. Finally, analytical and experimental analysis was carried out to assess a specific facial injury in an artificial child head.