2025-2026

Effects of Pretensioners/Pre-Pretensioners on the Belt Fit and Posture of Booster Occupants

Principal Investigator: Gretchen Baker, PhD

As belt-positioning boosters rely on the vehicle seat belt to provide the primary restraint of the child, boosters offer the opportunity for child occupants to benefit from other vehicle safety technologies, such as pretensioners and pre-pretensioners. With the prevalence of rear seat pretensioners expected to increase, this study aims to investigate the ability of pretensioners or pre-pretensioners to reduce initial belt gap and how this might vary.

Leveraging the National Digital Check Form (NDCF) Database to Assess Real World Child Restraint System Use and the Effect of Car Seat Check Education

Principal Investigator: Gretchen Baker, PhD

The National Safety Council compiles car seat check inspection data (National Digital Check Form, NDCF) which represents 270,000+ inspections, offering a valuable dataset to assess real-world child restrain system (CRS) use. This project aims to provide in-depth analysis of the NDCF dataset from 2018-2024 to better understand the characteristics of current CRS use and how this varies with child and vehicle characteristics.

Child Injury Trends in Recent Motor Vehicle Crashes in the USA: A Comparative Analysis of Rural vs. Urban Cases

Principal Investigator: Valentina Graci, PhD

Research suggests a higher fatality risk for children in rural areas compared to urban settings, yet current studies lack an updated, comparative analysis of pediatric injury trends. This study aims to address this gap by analyzing motor vehicle crash injury patterns in a predominantly rural region, with a focus on the children’s hospital catchment area, and comparing them with national trends.

Current Child Seat Portability Challenges: The Effect of Different Child Seat Geometries and a Pretensioner Belt on Child Occupant Crash Dynamics

Principal Investigator: Valentina Graci, PhD

This project leverages the Consumer Reports survey of caregivers to gather insights on currently used portable child restraint systems (CRS). The most commonly used models will be identified and tested to examine child motion during frontal impacts and compared to traditional CRS such as a high-back booster.

Influence of Vehicle Rear Seat Design on Booster-Seated Pediatric Occupant Response in Frontal Impacts

Principal Investigator: Jalaj Maheshwari, MS

Vehicle seat design parameters can significantly affect the kinematics and kinetics of pediatric occupants in crashes. However, few studies have evaluated the effect of vehicle seat geometry and stiffness on a restrained child occupant. This study begins to explore the vehicle seat design parameters that have the greatest effect on booster-seated 6-year-old and 10-year-old occupant kinematics and kinetics in frontal impacts.

Influence of Arm Position of the Q3s in Side Impacts

Principal Investigator: Julie Mansfield, PhD

Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) 213a describes the regulatory nearside impact test for child restraint systems (CRS). The standard requires the use of the Q3s anthropomorphic test device (ATD) to represent children in certain types of CRS. The goal of this project is to conduct simplified table-top impacts on the Q3s to isolate and quantify the effects of arm position on chest deflection.

Comparison of US and European Belt Paths of Rearward-Facing CRS in Frontal-Oblique Impact Sled Tests

Principal Investigator: Declan Patton, PhD

This study will perform frontal-oblique sled tests to compare the European and US belt paths used to attach rearward-facing infant CRS models in terms of head and chest injury metrics of a 12-month-old ATD.

Physical Testing of Front-Row Seatbacks

Principal Investigator: Declan Patton, PhD

Recent sled test studies have attempted to quantify the influence of the distance between the CRS and the front row seatback on head injury metrics. However, such tests lack the fidelity of full-scale vehicle tests. In this study, impact tests will be performed on a sample of front-row seatbacks using a pediatric ATD headform to quantify the relationship between the impact parameters and injury metrics.

Bringing the Latest Advances in Dynamic Temporal Analysis to Driving Safety: Predicting Young, Novice Drivers Who are at Risk of Crashing

Principal Investigator: Elizabeth Walshe, PhD

The CHOP-developed virtual driving assessment (VDA) can safely and reliably expose young drivers to common crash scenarios. This study seeks to mine the richness of the dynamic VDA data that may provide better prediction of crash risk by utilizing a new dynamic approach which transforms time-based data into meaningful intervals and makes patterns easier to analyze.

Estimated Injury Risk for Child, Teen, and Adult Pedestrians Struck by Vehicles Equipped with PAEB Technology

Principal Investigator: Maitland Witmer, MSE

Starting September 2029, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) will require Pedestrian Automatic Emergency Braking (PAEB) in all new vehicles. Prior PAEB research has shown that children are challenging to detect and avoid, and teens are more likely to engage in risky behavior. This study aims to identify the PAEB acceleration pulses that minimize injury risk for child, teen, and young adult pedestrians struck by motor vehicles.

2024-2025

An Epidemiological Approach Leveraging State and National Data to Evaluate Pediatric Injury Outcomes in Motor Vehicle Crashes

Principal Investigator: Gretchen Baker, PhD

The goal of this study is to provide updated assessment on the contributing factors to child injury risk during motor vehicle crashes using recent crash and injury data from state and national databases. Outcomes will include updated injury rates for children and adolescents at the state (Ohio) and national levels, with an emphasis on identifying the role of vehicle, crash characteristics, and appropriate restraint.

Variation in Thoracic and Abdominal Shapes and their Influence on Posture and Seat Belt Fit for Adolescent Females

Principal Investigator: Gretchen Baker, PhD

This study aims to fill a knowledge gap by conducting a targeted investigation on the belt fit and posture of a cohort of 60 adolescent and young adult females (10–21y) in a rear seat vehicle environment. Specifically, the influence of thoracic and abdominal anthropometric variation on posture and belt fit outcomes will be investigated. Adolescent outcomes will be compared to relevant anthropomorphic test devices (ATDs) to compare posture and belt fit…

Characterizing BPB-seated Children Kinematics in Lateral-oblique Impacts With and Without the Lower Anchor

Principal Investigator: Valentina Graci, PhD

Lower anchors in belt-positioning-boosters (BPBs) have been previously evaluated only in frontal impacts. As many caregivers use BPBs without the lower anchors connected, potentially during travel with a child, it’s important to understand how the lower anchor connection may influence the child’s kinematics and kinetics across different impact angles.

Analyzing the Effect of Pretensioner Firing Times and Seat Belt Pull-in Lengths on Booster-seated Pediatric Occupant Kinematics and Kinetics

Principal Investigator: Jalaj Maheshwari, MS

This project aims to understand the effect of advanced restraints on the injury response of pediatric occupants restrained in the vehicle’s rear seat by examining the effect of different pretensioner firing times and seat belt pull-in lengths on booster-seated PIPER 6- and- 10-year-old pediatric human body models in full-frontal and far-side impacts.

Effects of Pretensioners and Load Limiters on Rear-facing and Forward-facing CRS with Loose Installations and Belt Lock-off Features

Principal Investigator: Julie Mansfield, PhD

While the addition of pretensioners and load limiters in the rear row have an expected safety benefit for adults, less is known about the impact on children in rear-facing (RF) or forward-facing (FF) child restraint systems (CRS). This study will utilize sled testing to quantify differences in CRS performance with and without pretensioners and load limiters and evaluate whether these are advantageous to child occupants in modern CRS.

Rear-facing CRS in Rear Impacts: Timing of CRS Rotation Compared to Front Row Seat Back Deformation

Principal Investigator: Julie Mansfield, PhD

This study aims to better understand how changes to front row occupant safety will affect children seated in the rear row. Using new and previously performed sled testing data, investigators will define the rotational timing and kinematics of rear-facing child restraint systems (RF CRS) in rear impacts to contextualize design changes in front row seat deformation kinematics.

Interactions Between the CRS and Front Row Seatback in Full-Scale Vehicle Frontal Crash Tests

Principal Investigator: Declan Patton, PhD

This study builds on and enhances prior CChIPS research on the interactions between rearward-facing child restraint systems (CRS) and the front row seatback during frontal impacts. Using the Transport Canada full-scale vehicle crash test database, investigators will further characterize the interactions between the anthropomorphic test device (ATD) head and/or CRS and front row seatback during frontal crashes.

Scanning Among Adolescent Learner Drivers

Principal Investigator: Thomas Seacrist, MBE

Co-Principal Investigator: Elizabeth Walshe, PhD / CHOP has developed and validated a novel virtual driving assessment (VDA) for predicting on-road outcomes in new drivers, including crash risk early in licensure. Utilizing eye tracking recording, this study will use a CHOP patient sample of new young drivers (before, during and after the learner phase) to understand how scanning varies across the learner period during specific driving…

2023-2024

Identifying Key Eye-Tracking Metrics Associated with Cognitive Control While Driving, Validated by MEG Neuroimaging: Phase III

Principal Investigator: Elizabeth Walshe, PhD

Recent developments in eye-tracking and neuroimaging techniques are paving the way for novel approaches to understanding cognitive workload and cognitive errors during driving. Building on prior “MEG + Driving + Eye-Tracking” work, this study aims to (1) identify eye-tracking metrics that proxy increased cognitive control in a new cognitively challenging unanticipated steering task and (2) compare these eye-tracking metrics and frontal lobe…

Identifying the Relationship Between Scanning and Executive Functions Among Young Drivers

Principal Investigator: Thomas Seacrist, MBE

One aspect of driving that is both critical for crash avoidance and influenced by executive function is scanning, or the pattern of eye glances used to detect hazards. Previous research has shown that drivers with poor executive function are less likely to detect road hazards; however, these studies do not identify the underlying scanning patterns contributing to this poor hazard detection.