Occupant Protection (Adult & Child)
The Occupant Protection domain evaluates how effectively a vehicle protects both adult and child occupants in frontal, side, rear and rollover crash conditions. It combines high-resolution dummy injury data, restraint-system performance and child restraint system (CRS) integration into a unified view of in-cabin safety.
AutoSafe™ uses advanced anthropomorphic test devices (ATDs), multiple seating positions and age profiles to ensure that safety is not limited to the driver seat, but shared across all occupants, including children in correctly installed CRS solutions across the rear seats.
Together, these evaluations provide a transparent assessment of how well a vehicle manages crash energy for different body sizes, seating positions and restraint configurations, forming one of the most visible pillars of the overall AutoSafe™ rating from a consumer perspective.
Occupant Protection (Adult & Child) brings together injury metrics, restraint performance and CRS integration to show how safely the cabin protects every seated occupant, not just the driver.
Adult – Frontal Protection
Adult frontal protection focuses on high-severity frontal crashes, assessing both driver and front passenger injury risk. Detailed dummy measurements are used to evaluate how well the restraint systems and cabin structure protect the head, neck, chest, femurs and lower legs under demanding frontal crash pulses.
This area is one of the core occupant safety metrics within AutoSafe™, reflecting how effectively the vehicle translates its crash structure and restraint technology into real-world protection for adults in the front row.
- Head Injury Criterion (HIC) measurements
- Neck tension, compression and shear forces
- Chest compression and deceleration limits
- Femur and tibia load evaluations
- Correlation with footwell & steering column intrusion
Adult – Side Impact
Adult side impact protection evaluates lateral crash performance for both front and rear occupants in mobile deformable barrier (MDB) and pole tests. These scenarios represent some of the most severe real-world conditions due to limited crumple zone on the struck side.
The focus is on containing head movement, limiting rib and abdominal loading, and controlling pelvic acceleration—making side impact a high-severity injury focus within the AutoSafe™ occupant safety model.
- Rib deflection and thoracic injury risk
- Abdominal force and pelvic acceleration
- Head containment and curtain airbag coverage
- B-pillar intrusion and door deformation mapping
Rear Impact & Whiplash
Rear impact and whiplash evaluations concentrate on low to moderate speed rear-end collisions, which are frequent in daily traffic. The emphasis is on neck and spine protection through optimized head restraints and seat designs that manage rearward and rebound motion.
These criteria are particularly relevant for commuter and family vehicles, where everyday collisions form a significant share of real-world crash exposure.
- Neck Injury Criterion (NIC) and related metrics
- Head restraint geometry and adjustability
- Seatback strength under dynamic loading
- Head rebound path and kinematic stability
Rollover Occupant Retention
Rollover occupant retention ensures that seatbelts, curtain airbags and glazing work together to keep occupants within the safety cell during overturn events. The goal is to minimise ejection risk and preserve protective alignment between occupants and restraint systems throughout the rollover sequence.
The evaluation also checks whether restraint pretensioning strategies and airbag deployment durations are suitable for the longer timeframes often associated with rollover crashes.
- Seatbelt pretensioner performance in rollover scenarios
- Curtain airbag deployment duration and coverage
- Ejection risk and glazing retention evaluation
Child Protection – Crash Performance
Child protection assessments use Q-series child dummies in both frontal and side impacts to validate protection for key age groups. The focus is on head excursion, chest loading and neck forces, especially in rear-seat positions where children are most often seated.
This family-centric evaluation plays a critical role in determining whether a vehicle can be recommended to households with young children, particularly at higher AutoSafe™ classes.
- Head excursion and containment in frontal crashes
- Chest acceleration and deflection for younger occupants
- Neck load management in side impacts
- Rear-seat structural performance around CRS locations
CRS Integration & Rear Seat Safety
CRS integration and rear-seat safety examine how easily and correctly child restraint systems can be installed, and how well rear-seat occupants are protected in general. This includes anchorage design, labeling and belt-routing quality, all of which influence real-world misuse rates.
The evaluation also considers front passenger airbag deactivation logic and the clarity of warnings where CRS use in the front seat is permitted or restricted.
- ISOFIX / i-Size anchorage accessibility and labeling
- Top tether / support leg compatibility and geometry
- Belt routing for booster and belt-fitted CRS
- Airbag deactivation logic for the front passenger seat
Domain Weight & Contribution
Occupant Protection contributes 20% of the overall AutoSafe™ score and is treated as a mandatory performance area for family-oriented and fleet vehicles.
- Combined adult and child protection scoring
- Frontal and side crash performance weighted for real-world relevance
- Minimum thresholds for rear-seat and whiplash safety
- Child safety results considered critical for top AutoSafe™ classes
What High Performance Looks Like
Vehicles achieving top-level occupant protection scores typically exhibit:
- Low injury metrics across all dummy positions
- Balanced protection for driver, front passenger and rear occupants
- Robust CRS integration with minimal misuse risk
- Consistent performance across repeated test cycles
Next in the AutoSafe™ Standard
Vulnerable Road User Protection
See how AutoSafe™ extends beyond in-cabin occupants to evaluate safety for pedestrians and cyclists, combining vehicle front-end design with advanced AEB-VRU performance.