FAA Office of Aerospace Medicine
Civil Aerospace Medical Institute

Report No: DOT/FAA/AM-67/13

Title and Subtitle: A functional comparison of basic restraints systems.

Report Date: June 1967

Authors: Young WJ.

Abstract: The availability of information necessary to provide realistic solutions for personal safety problems in public and private transportation systems is found to be inadequate and incomplete. The problem of body restraint during the accident event is pursued, in part by this study.

Since the greatest frequency of serious injuries occurs from upper body components (head, neck and chest) impacting or being penetrated by rigid, uneven surfaces, it is desirable and essential to restrain the body and prevent interaction with the surrounding structures. The functional characteristics of eight complete (seat belt and shoulder harness) restraint systems and a typical incomplete (seat belt only) system are presented graphically for comparison in a series of figures based on kinematic head patterns. An additional series compares the relative differences in restraining qualities that result from varying the attachment locations of an incomplete (seat belt only) system.

Key Words: aviation safety, crash injuries, safety belts, civil aviation.

No. of Pages: 20