Toyota receives the 2011 SAE Ralph H. Isbrandt Automotive Safety
Engineering Award
ANN ARBOR, Mich., Jan. 30, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Toyota
Technical Center (TTC), a division of Toyota Motor Engineering
& Manufacturing, N.A. Inc. (TEMA) announced today that the
Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) has selected TTC -
Robert Smith; Author, Toyota Motor
Corporation (TMC) - Shigeki Hayashi,
Yuichi Kitagawa and Tsuyoshi Yasuki; Co-Authors as the recipients of
the 2011 SAE Ralph H. Isbrandt Automotive Safety Engineering
Award.
The Isbrandt award annually recognizes the author(s) delivering
the most outstanding paper at a Society or section meeting on the
subject of automotive safety engineering. This honor
recognizes their outstanding SAE technical paper #2011-01-1104- "A
Study of Driver Injury Mechanism in High Speed Lateral Impacts of
Stock Car Auto Racing Using a Human Body FE Model"; presented at
the 2011 SAE World Congress. Mr. Tsuyoshi Yasuki will be accepting the award on
behalf of the team at the SAE Government/Industry meeting today in
Washington, DC.
The paper was the summary of the 1.5 year research project
involving TEMA, TMC, and NASCAR, using the Total HUman Model for
Safety (THUMS), Toyota's virtual human model, to investigate and
simulate driver response and injury mechanism resulting from high
speed crashes in the racing environment. The purpose of the study
was to understand the internal mechanisms of injuries relating to
specific seat geometries and to propose modifications to the
cockpit/seat structure and/or restraint system in order to reduce
the risk of injury, with a focus primarily and chest injury and rib
fracture.
As a result of this research NASCAR has since updated their
Official Rulebook, regarding Seat Chest Support Stiffness targets,
and Seat Shoulder Support geometry. These changes may
lead to a reduced risk of rib fracture injury for both Side and
Frontal collisions in the high speed racing environment.
About Toyota (NYSE: TM)
In 2012, Toyota Technical Center celebrated its 35th
Anniversary and is the driving force behind Toyota's North American
engineering and research & development activities.
Established in 1977 and headquartered in Michigan, TTC has R&D facilities in
Ann Arbor, Saline, Plymouth and Livonia. In addition, TTC
has R&D facilities in California and operates the Toyota Arizona
Proving Ground near Phoenix. TTC is engaged in engineering
design, vehicle performance, prototype development, powertrain
tuning, safety/crashworthiness, regulatory affairs and advanced
research. TTC has development responsibilities for the
Avalon, Camry, Sienna, Tacoma, Tundra, Venza and RAV4 EV.
SOURCE Toyota