Effect of orientation and position of impact on the lower extremity injuries during car pedestrian crashes

Pedestrians belong to one of the most vulnerable group of road users. During a car pedestrian impact, injuries may happen to the head, which may be fatal enough to cause death, or to the lower extremity which is non fatal. Lower extremities are the first region in the human body to come in contact with the vehicle. During a car pedestrian impact, lower extremity injuries which occurs due to the bumper contact can either be a bone fracture or knee ligament injury. Car pedestrian impact is studied from the lateral direction. A real world car pedestrian impact can occur from any orientation to the lower extremity. The present study investigates the variation in the lower extremity injuries with the variation in impact orientation. Total Human Model for Safety (THUMS), the standard finite element human model developed by Toyota central R&D labs, was modified with failure values to the knee ligaments and bones to evaluate the lower extremity injuries during an impact.