Three case studies highlight the use of digital **human body models (HBMs)** in assessing vehicle safety. These studies involved: 1) evaluating a new motorcycle safety system, with results showing differing peak head accelerations across models; 2) tuning a head-neck reflex controller and simulating pre-crash scenarios using multibody models; and 3) assessing the effectiveness of an active backrest in facilitating a quicker driver response during an emergency while in autonomous driving mode. Despite the value of simulations, challenges lie ahead in broadening model variety to assess injury risks across diverse populations, considering an expanded range of crash scenarios due to the rise of electric and lightweight vehicles, and integrating new safety systems brought by autonomous vehicles. HBMs, detailed computational models simulating human body response during vehicle crashes, will play a crucial role in addressing these challenges.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/gamm.202300007