Matthew P Reed

• PhD
• Professor at University of Michigan

title>ABSTRACT Seatbelt-mounted airbag is a new type of occupant restraint system, in which the airbag is integrated into the seatbelt and hence can be easily and quickly implemented into the current tactical vehicles without significant vehicle structure or interior changes. The objective of this study was to develop, optimize, and demonstrate se...

title>ABSTRACT The objective of this study was to optimize the occupant restraint systems (including both seatbelt and airbag) in a light tactical vehicle under frontal crash conditions through a combination of sled testing and computational modeling. Two iterations of computational modeling and sled testing were performed to find the optimal rest...

title>ABSTRACT The objective of this study is to understand the occupant kinematics and injury risks in a light tactical vehicle under frontal crash conditions using a combination of physical tests and computer simulations. A total of 20 sled tests were conducted in a representative environment to understand occupant kinematics, and quantify the e...

Objective: The objective of this study is to use parametric human modeling and machine learning methods to identify representative occupants that can account for injury variations among a more diverse population with a limited simulation budget. Method: A maximal projection method was used to sample 100 occupants, considering the variations in s...

Understanding the range of body sizes and shapes among children is critical for the design of products and systems to ensure safe and effective use and other safety considerations to reduce the risk of injury. The availability of useful data for youth is even more limited than for adults. To address this gap, methods were developed to gather detail...

Measuring human body dimensions is critical for many engineering and product design domains. Nonetheless, acquiring body dimension data for populations using typical anthropometric methods poses challenges due to the time-consuming nature of manual methods. The measurement process for three-dimensional (3D) whole-body scanning can be much faster, b...

Strength data for children are needed to improve the safety of products. Currently, minimal information on strength is available for children under age 6 years. This paper describes the development of methods to measure functional, task-relevant strength for children ages 24 to 71 months. Strength measurement methods used for adults and older child...

div> Objective: This study aimed to optimize restraint systems and improve safety equity by using parametric human body models (HBMs) and vehicle models accounting for variations in occupant size and shape as well as vehicle type. Methodology: A diverse set of finite element (FE) HBMs were developed by morphing the GHBMC midsize male simplified mo...

The objective of this study was to use computational models to study how unconventional seating positions and orientations in vehicles with Automated Driving System (ADS) may affect occupant response metrics of children with various restraint conditions. A literature review was first conducted to frame a simulation plan, including selections of sur...

Recent advancements in vehicle automation and driver-assistance systems that detect pavement markings has increased the importance of the detectability of pavement markings through various sensor modalities across weather and road conditions. Among the sensing techniques, light detection and ranging (LiDAR) sensors have become popular for vehicle-a...

Proactive ergonomic analysis of occupational tasks using digital human figure models requires accurate prediction of worker postures. A wide range of methods have been proposed and used, including posture libraries, statistical methods including regression, and optimization approaches that incorporate hypothesized criteria such as strength maximiza...

Objective The purpose of the current study is to use 3D technology to measure in-vehicle belt fit both with and without booster seats across different vehicles among a large, diverse sample of children and to compare belt fit with and without a booster. Methods Lap and shoulder belt fit were measured for 108 children ages 6–12 years sitting in the...

Objective: The objective of the current study was to increase scientific understanding of rear-seat passenger seating position, postures, CRS use, and belt use through a naturalistic study. A secondary objective was to compare data from vehicles used in ride-hailing with data from other vehicles. Method: Video cameras were installed in the passe...

The scalp shape is one of the critical factors determining the proper fit for personalized helmets and other head-borne products. Three-dimensional (3D) surface scanning technology enables accurate capture of the 3D shape of an individual’s face, but most head scans do not capture the scalp shape due to hair artifacts because the typical scanning s...

Statistical body shape models (SBSM) provide compact, flexible representations of body shape that can be implemented in design software. However, few SBSMs have been created to represent adults in supported seated postures that are relevant for the design of seated environments, and none has incorporated the effects of age. This paper presents an S...

Objective Identifying current occupant travel patterns can inform decision making regarding the design, regulation, and occupant protection systems helpful for automated vehicle systems and mobility services. Methods Two travel data sets were analyzed to quantify travel patterns: the 2017 National Household Travel Survey (NHTS), which provides dat...

Objective Approximately 40% of the U.S. adult population are obese. An issue associated with this trend is proper seat belt fit for obese occupants. This study extends previous research, in which few individuals with high BMI (> 40 kg/m²) were included, by examining the relationship between participant and belt factors on belt fit for drivers with...

Pelvic fractures have been identified as the second most common AIS2+ injury in motor vehicle crashes, with the highest early mortality rate compared to other orthopaedic injuries. Further, the risk is associated with occupant sex, age, stature and body mass index (BMI). In this study, clinical pelvic CT scans from 132 adults (75 females, 57 males)...

Previous studies involving whole-body post-mortem human surrogates (PHMS) have generated biomechanical response specifications for physically simulated accelerative loading intended to reproduce seat and floor velocity histories occurring in under-body blast (UBB) events (e.g.,. References 10, 11, 21 These previous studies employed loading conditio...

The importance of advancing transportation equity has become more visible as other structural inequities in our society have received increasing attention. Articulating approaches that practitioners use to address equity in their work, including experience-based strategies and research-developed equity metrics, contribute to supporting the achievem...

Objective Use volunteer data and parametric finite element (FE) human body models to investigate how restraint systems can be designed to adapt to a diverse population and pre-crash posture changes induced by active safety features. Methods Four FE human models were generated by morphing the midsize male GHBMC simplified model into geometries repr...

Modeling the shape of the scalp and face is essential for the design of protective helmets and other head-borne equipment. However, head anthropometry studies using optical scanning rarely capture scalp shape because of hair interference. Data on scalp shape is available from bald men, but female data are generally not available. To address this is...

Objective Recent studies have suggested that a relationship exists between crash injury risk and occupant posture, particularly in postures different from those used with anthropomorphic test devices (ATDs) in crash testing. The objective of this study was to increase scientific understanding of typical front-seat passenger postures through a natur...

This study presents an improved version of three-dimensional (3D) marker-less head-tracking method published previously. The new method improves the reliability of the technique and also minimizing the required manual procedure. A time-of-flight depth camera, Microsoft Kinect V2, was utilized to obtain infrared images with depth information at the...

Objective To define static, dynamic, and cognitive fit and their interactions as they pertain to exosystems and to document open research needs in using these fit characteristics to inform exosystem design. Background Initial exosystem sizing and fit evaluations are currently based on scalar anthropometric dimensions and subjective assessments. As...

Objective: The Hybrid-III anthropometric test devices (ATDs) are widely used by the automotive industry to evaluate restraint system performance in standardized vehicle crash tests. The relationship between the belt fit measured for people in driving posture and the belt fit obtained with ATDs has not been reported in the literature. The present st...

Belt positioning boosters reduce injury risk for child occupants compared with seat belts alone. While boosters shorten the effective seat length (and thus reduce slouching), “boosting” the child relative to the vehicle interior components also achieves additional safety benefits. First, the increase of the lap belt angle usually improves belt fit...

Objective: Studies of vehicle occupant motions in response to abrupt vehicle maneuvers have demonstrated movements that may result in changes in the level of protection for the occupant if a crash subsequently occurs. The previous studies have typically used a single vehicle. The current study assesses whether the patterns of occupant head movement...

Postural stability and balance during manual material handling and industrial tasks are fundamental to ergonomic assessment of workplace tasks. Previous research has determined that accurate prediction of a person’s balance maintenance strategy is one of the most important parameters affecting the accuracy of posture prediction algorithms. Digital...

Limited data exist on the injury tolerance and biomechanical response of humans to high-rate, under-body blast (UBB) loading conditions that are commonly seen in current military operations, and there are no data examining the influence of occupant posture on response. Additionally, no anthropomorphic test device (ATD) currently exists that can pro...

Objective: Estimates of child restraint misuse rates in the United States range from 49% to 95%, but not all misuse modes have similar consequences in terms of restraint effectiveness. A series of laboratory sled tests was conducted to determine the effects of common misuses and combinations of misuses, including loose harness, loose installation,...

This study aimed at evaluating the ability of morphed finite element (FE) human body models (HBMs) to reproduce the impact responses of post-mortem human subjects (PMHS) with various stature and shape. Ten side impact tests previously performed using seven PMHS under 3 m/s and 8 m/s impact velocities were selected for model evaluation. With weight,...

As automation transforms drivers into passengers, the deployment of automated vehicles has the potential to greatly increase the incidence of motion sickness. A study was conducted to quantify motion sickness response of front-seat passengers performing ecologically relevant passenger activities during conditions consistent with driving on public r...

Objective: Highly reclined postures may be common among passengers in future automated vehicles. A laboratory study was conducted to address the need for posture and belt fit in these seating configurations. Methods: In a laboratory vehicle mockup, the postures of 24 men and women with a wide range of body size were measured in a typical front vehi...

Objective: Analyses of crash data have shown that older, obese, and/or female occupants have a higher risk of injury in frontal crashes compared to the rest of the population. The objective of this study was to use parametric finite element (FE) human models to assess the increased injury risks and identify safety concerns for these vulnerable popu...

Post-mortem human subjects (PMHS) are frequently used to characterize biomechanical response and injury tolerance of humans to various types of loading by means of instrumentation installed directly on the skeleton. Data extracted from such tests are often used to develop and validate anthropomorphic test devices (ATDs), which function as human sur...

Objective: This study presents anthropometric data for individuals with high body mass index (BMI). Modified anthropometric dimensions were also developed to address the challenges of obtaining accurate and repeatable data for this population segment. Background: The prevalence of obesity affects approximately 40% of the U.S. adult population. A...

div class="section abstract"> Motion sickness in road vehicles may become an increasingly important problem as automation transforms drivers into passengers. The University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute has developed a vehicle-based platform to study motion sickness in passenger vehicles. A test-track study was conducted with 52 par...

Vehicle interiors are complex human-machine interfaces, posing substantial design challenges, particularly when the vehicle is also a workplace. These challenges are compounded by the wide variability in human size, shape, and preference. For law-enforcement officers, firefighters, soldiers, and other workers, specialized clothing or body borne gea...

This paper presents a new accommodation assessment method for vehicle occupants using a statistical body shape model in an augmented reality (AR) environment. Vehicle occupant accommodation assessment is an important aspect of vehicle interior design. Variability in body dimensions of the target population is a key component in determining the over...

The ease of entering a vehicle, known as ingress, is one of the important ergonomic factors that car manufacturers consider during the process of vehicle design. Manufacturers frequently conduct human subject tests to assess ingress discomfort for different vehicle designs. Using subject tests, manufacturers are able to estimate the proportion of p...

Objective: U.S. FMVSS 202a requires that a vehicle head restraint lie within a specified distance (55 mm) from the physical headform on the head restraint measurement device (HRMD). Smaller values of this distance, known as backset, are frequently associated with improved protection against neck injury in rear impact. In some vehicles, small backse...

Objective: A test track study was conducted to quantify patterns of adult front seat passenger head motion during abrupt vehicle maneuvers. Method: Eighty-seven men and women with a wide range of body sizes and ages participated in data collection on a closed test track in a passenger sedan under manual control by a test driver. Because a primary g...

The design of child restraints is guided in part by anthropometric data describing the distributions of body dimensions of children. However, three-dimensional body shape data have not been available for children younger than three years of age. This study presents body shape models for children weighing 9–23 kg in a seated posture relevant to chil...

Among the whole population, small, obese, and/or older occupants are at increased risk of death and serious injury in motor-vehicle crashes compared with mid-size young men. Current adult finite element (FE) human body models (HBM) have been developed in a few body sizes (large male, midsize male, and small female) with reference body dimensions si...

Modeling of human motion is common in ergonomic analysis of industrial tasks and can help improve workplace design. We propose a method for modeling the trajectories of hand movements in the frontal plane during a sequential reach task that involves threading string through a system of pulleys. We model the motions as a combination of two consecuti...

Ergonomic and capability assessments are typically performed using guidelines derived using biomechanical, physiological and psychophysical approaches. In practice, these approaches yield different and often conflicting assessments. As part of an effort to reconcile these methods, a laboratory study was conducted to investigate the effects of varyi...

Adding advanced safety features (e.g., airbags) to restraint systems in tactical vehicles could decrease the injury risk of their occupants. The impact of frontal crashes on the occupants has been assessed recently through experimental data and finite element (FE) models. However, the number of such experiments is relatively small due to high cost....

Objective: The anthropomorphic test devices (ATDs) in the Hybrid III family are widely used as human surrogates to test the crash performance of vehicles. A previous study demonstrated that passenger belt fit in rear seats was affected by high body mass index (BMI) and to a lesser extent by increased age. Specifically, the lap belt was worn higher...

Many post-mortem human subjects (PMHS) considered for use in biomechanical impact tests have pre-existing rib fractures (PERFs), usually resulting from cardiopulmonary resuscitation. These specimens are typically excluded from impact studies with the assumption that the fractures will alter the thoracic response to loading. We previously used the G...

Previous laboratory studies have demonstrated that some drivers position their seat belts suboptimally. Specifically, the lap portion of the belt may be higher and farther forward relative to the pelvis than best practice, and the shoulder portion of the belt may be outboard or inboard of mid-shoulder. This study evaluated the performance of a vide...

Introduction Seat belt use provides significant public health benefit, however, most public awareness campaigns have generally focused on seat belt use rather than encouraging adults to improve seat belt fit with belt placement. This study provides an evaluation of a video-based intervention to improve adult belt fit assessing whether a video-based...

Recent field data have shown that the occupant protection in vehicle rear seats failed to keep pace with advances in the front seats likely due to the lack of advanced safety technologies. The objective of this study was to optimize advanced restraint systems for protecting rear seat occupants with a range of body sizes under different frontal cras...

Background: The design of seating systems to improve comfort and reduce injury would benefit from improved understanding of the deformation and strain patterns in soft tissues, particularly in the gluteal region. Methods: Ten healthy men were positioned in a semi-recumbent posture while their pelvic and thigh region was scanned using a wide-bore...

Introduction: Sequential reach tasks are a common component of manual assembly jobs. These tasks typically involve manipulating a work object or material and reaching to successive target locations with different precision requirements. Ergonomics research on the control of hand movements has largely focused on tasks requiring discrete reaches (e.g...

Objective: Field data analyses have shown that obesity significantly increases the occupant injury risks in motor vehicle crashes, but the injury assessment tools for people with obesity are largely lacking. The objectives of this study were to use a mesh morphing method to rapidly generate parametric finite element models with a wide range of obe...

Adding advanced safety features (e.g. airbags) to restraint systems in tactical vehicles could decrease the injury risk of their occupants. The impact of frontal crashes on the occupants has been assessed recently through experimental data and finite element models. However, the number of such experiments is relatively small due to high cost. In th...

Field data analyses have shown that small female, obese, and/or older occupants are at increased risks of death and serious injury in motor-vehicle crashes compared with mid-size young men. The current adult finite element (FE) human models represent occupants in the same three body sizes (large male, mid-size male, and small female) as those for t...

In this paper, a statistical model is developed to predict the driver eye locations in military ground vehicles. The data were taken from a study on soldier driving postures and seating positions. The distribution of eye locations is represented by an “eyellipse”, a geometric construction that approximates the distribution of the eye locations usin...

Objective: Federal regulations in the United States require vehicles to meet occupant performance requirements with unbelted test dummies. Removing the test requirements with unbelted occupants might encourage the deployment of seatbelt interlocks and allow restraint optimization to focus on belted occupants. The objective of this study is to comp...

Objective: Although advanced restraint systems, such as seatbelt pretensioners, and load limiters, can provide improved occupant protection in crashes, such technologies are currently not utilized in military vehicles. The design and use of military vehicles presents unique challenges to occupant safety – including differences in compartment geomet...

Objective Finite element (FE) models with geometry and material properties that are parametric with subject descriptors, such as age and body shape/size, are being developed to incorporate population variability into crash simulations. However, the validation methods currently being used with these parametric models do not assess whether model pred...

Customers nowadays consider the driver's seat, specifically its comfort and aesthetic form, during the automobile purchase decision. As a result, much research has been recently conducted into seat comfort and the influence of the visual appearance of the seat on the perception of comfort. However, the cost of the seat remains an important contribu...

Objective: The shape of the current physical and computational surrogates of children used for restraint system assessments are based largely on standard anthropometric dimensions. These scalar dimensions provide valuable information on the overall size of the individual, but do not provide good guidance on shape or posture. This study introduced...

Occupant stature and body shape may have significant effects on injury risks in motor vehicle crashes, but the current finite element (FE) human body models (HBMs) only represent occupants with a few sizes and shapes. Our recent studies have demonstrated that, by using a mesh morphing method, parametric FE HBMs can be rapidly developed for represen...

Background: Few tools exist to quantify body mass index visually. Objective: To examine the inter-rater reliability and validity (sensitivity and specificity for overweight/obesity and obesity) of a three-dimensional visual rating system to quantify body mass index (BMI) in young children. Methods: Children (n = 242, mean age 5.9 years, 50.0%...

Three healthy individuals participated in a laboratory experiment that required routing a thin continuous thread through a series of pulleys mounted on a vertical work surface. Task precision demand was manipulated by altering pulley outer diameter (38 mm, 76 mm, and 152 mm) and groove width (3 mm, 6 mm, and 9 mm). The target location of each desti...

Patient handling equipment and related medical devices, such as hospital beds, slings, and patient transfer devices, must accommodate a diverse patient population while ensuring safety and comfort. Approximately 72 million U.S. adults, 34% of the adult population, are currently obese with a body mass index (BMI) greater than or equal to 30 kg/m². D...

The standard method for specifying target responses for human surrogates, such as crash test dummies and human computational models, involves developing a corridor based on the distribution of a set of empirical mechanical responses. These responses are commonly normalized to account for the effects of subject body shape, size, and mass on impact r...

Data from a previous study of soldier driving postures and seating positions were analysed to develop statistical models for defining accommodation of driver seating positions in military vehicles. Regression models were created for seating accommodation applicable to driver positions with a fixed heel point and a range of steering wheel locations...

Whole-body surface scanning technology has revolutionized anthropometry, providing an efficient way to capture detailed body characteristics. Scanning protocols generally require minimally-clad subjects, thus obtaining a body model from a scan of a person with normal clothing still remains a challenge. The current study aims to estimate body shape...

The objective of this study is to develop a parametric ribcage model that can account for morphological variations among the adult population. Ribcage geometries, including 12 pair of ribs, sternum, and thoracic spine, were collected from CT scans of 101 adult subjects through image segmentation, landmark identification (1,016 for each subject), sy...

: This study evaluated the ISO 5353 Seat Index Point Tool (SIPT) as an alternative to the SAE J826 H-point manikin for measuring military seats. A tool was fabricated based on the ISO specification and a custom backangle measurement probe was designed and fitted to the SIPT. Comparisons between the two tools in a wide range of seating conditions sh...