Toyota has added three child-sized models to its virtual Total Human Model for Safety (THUMS) crash testing software, which uses CT scanning technology to create detailed images of the inside of the human body.
Unlike physical crash test dummies, Toyota says this software allows it to study what happens to the body's internal organs in a crash in order to refine the performance of safety features like airbags.
The new models represent children aged 10, six and three years old, are sized at 138, 118 and 94 cm tall, respectively, and join three existing models: a large male (189 cm tall), average-build male (179 cm) and a small female that would stand 153 cm tall. In addition, each virtual dummy is modeled as a vehicle occupant (sitting down) and a pedestrian so that Toyota can study the effects of a collision both on those inside the vehicle and those outside.
THUMS was first launched in 2000, and has gone through four updates since, each adding a layer of capability until the system incorporated the basic human body structure, face and bone detail and a precise model of the brain. The new child-sized models were developed jointly in Michigan, USA by Wayne State University, University of Michigan and Toyota's Collaborative Safety Research Centre in Ann Arbor, MI.
