Female PMHS Thoracic Biomechanical Response Corridors with Preliminary Consideration of the influence of Breast Tissue in Frontal Impacts

Authors: Gretchen Baker, Yun-Seok Kang, Angelo Marcallini Jr, Ryan Lang, Amanda Agnew, The Ohio State University; Erin Hutter, Kevin Moorhouse, Vehicle Research and Test Center NHTSA

Abstract

Thoracic injuries remain common for belted occupants in frontal motor vehicle crashes and some studies have shown increased injury risk for females compared to males. However, there remains a lack of female post-mortem human subject (PMHS) data in the literature to generate female-specific biomechanical response corridors and evaluate engineering tools such as anthropomorphic test devices (ATDs) and computational human body models (HBMs). Additionally, the effect of breast tissue on thoracic response has not been directly investigated. As such, this study sought to utilize simplified frontal impacts to (1) generate female PMHS thoracic response corridors with and without breasts and (2) preliminarily explore the influence of breasts on the thoracic responses of female PMHS. Twelve female PMHS (9 small and 3 midsize) were subjected to frontal impacts at mid-sternum with a 14.0 kg circular impactor at 4.3 m/s in varied conditions with and without breasts. Force versus deflection (FD) response corridors were generated, and BioRank System Scores (BRSS) were used to compare between groups. Overall, female PMHS with breasts displayed lower peak force and greater peak deflection compared to those without breasts. PMHS with breasts compared to those without breasts had greater differences in FD response (BRSS=2.39) than small versus midsize PMHS with breasts (BRSS=1.45) or small versus midsize PMHS without breasts (BRSS=1.63). These results have important implications for female thoracic biomechanical response and provide targets for continued evaluation of female-specific safety tools.   

Type: Full Paper, Research

Keywords: thorax, motor vehicle safety, experimental injury biomechanics 

© Stapp Association, 2026

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