Geometrical Assessment of the Curtain Airbag Coverage in Indian Passenger Vehicles

Curtain airbags are the most effective protective systems to prevent severe/fatal head injuries in side collisions with narrow objects such as poles or trees. One of the important parameters of curtain airbags is the inflated zone i.e. the coverage area of the airbag, which decides the extent of head protection for occupants with different anthropometries in different seating rows. EuroNCAP first introduced the concept of Head Protection Device Assessment (HPDA) in 2015., In addition to the performance requirements in the dynamic test, EuroNCAP started assessing the deployed curtain airbag/s for its area coverage and verification of inflated zones for various anthropometries over occupant rows. In India, there is now a near total adoption of curtain airbags as standard fitment by the OEMs. Further, introduction of Bharat NCAP (BNCAP), a Perpendicular Pole Side Impact test is conducted for assessing the effectiveness of curtain airbags in a dynamic test, but currently, does not perform the HPD assessment. The paper studies the Head Protection Device/Curtain Airbags offered in Passenger Vehicles in India w.r.t. the Head Protection Device Geometric Assessment (HPDA). This assessment analyses the effectiveness of curtain airbags present in Indian passenger vehicles for protection of occupants of different anthropometries. The study is conducted on the vehicles that have been tested at ARAI and are also currently under sale in the Indian market.