Child Models Added to Toyota’s Virtual Crash Dummies
Toyota has expanded its family of virtual crash-test dummies by adding three new models to replicate the physical characteristics of children aged 10, six and three. The software, known as Total Human Model for Safety (THUMS), maps and simulates the injuries sustained by human bodies in vehicle crashes. Developed by Toyota and its academic research partners in the USA, the new software models will be offered for sale to others from later this year. THUMS can forecast the extent of likely injuries throughout the human body, providing a valuable tool in the development of passenger protection devices, such as airbags, and the design of safer vehicles. The new child models are designed to represent the average physiques of children at different ages: 94cm tall at three years, 118cm at six and 138cm at age 10. As with the models already available - large and averagebuild males and a small female - they will each be offered in two versions: a passenger and a pedestrian. The software has undergone constant improvements and refinements since THUMS Version 1 was launched in 2000. For Version 2, which was released in 2003, faces and bone structure were added to the models. Version 3, launched in 2008, added a brain simulation and in 2010, Version 4 was upgrad- ed with detailed modelling of the brain and the addition of internal organs, pinpointing their placement and interaction within the body. In 2015, Version 5 added simulated musculature, allowing the models to assume the same bracing positions that a human might just before an impact.