Transport of wheelchair seated passengers - providing evidence of the limits of tilt and recline in transport

Abstract

This paper aims to answer the question; at what point should an occupant in a wheelchair travel rear facing due to non-upright posture?  The crash testing results produced within with work indicates that only small amount of Tilt can be applied to a chair before a vehicle anchored occupant restraint system starts to dramatically increase the risk of life threatening injury due to improper interaction with the human body.  We recorded occupant restraint abdominal intrusion at Tilt angles as little as 10°, meanwhile recline is less impactful to the occupant restraint effectiveness.  The results indicate that for optimum crash protection wheelchair users need to be sitting as upright as possible with the seat pan parallel to the ground.  If Tilt greater than 10° is required, the possibility of rear facing transportation with suitable support for the backrest of the chair should be explored.

The paper goes on to evaluate the performance of a three point occupant restraint system with a wheelchair anchored lap belt providing enhanced control of lap belt geometry and the subsequent reduction of risk of severe injury due to abdominal intrusion.