Pioneering Safety in the Era of Reclined Seating
China Automotive Engineering Research Institute (CAERI) has taken a landmark step in vehicle safety with the adoption of the THOR-AV-50M ATD into its C-IASI protocol. Through deep collaboration with global Tier-1 suppliers, like Yanfeng and Autoliv, CAERI and Humanetics are setting a new standard for assessing and advancing safety in unconventional “zero gravity” and reclined seating positions.
A New Protocol for a New Era
As vehicle interiors and occupant seating designs evolve, traditional restraint systems face unprecedented challenges. Some of the world’s most progressive safety organizations including CAERI have recognized the urgent need for new test methods, calling in global partners like Humanetics to accelerate the transition. With contributions from fifteen OEMs, suppliers, and four leading universities, CAERI has finalized a protocol for unconventional seat postures, centered around Humanetics’ THOR-AV-50M, the only ATD engineered to accurately represent AV seating environments with up to 60 degrees of recline.
Christopher O’Connor, President and CEO of Humanetics, reflects on this process: “Our mission is to support the industry’s rapid transformation by providing the physical and digital tools that enable breakthrough innovation. It is only by working hand in hand with forward thinking partners like CAERI that we can make meaningful progress in occupant safety for future mobility.”
Validating the Science: Biofidelity and Flexibility
The THOR-AV-50M was selected for its unique biofidelity, adaptability, and proven resilience under both simulation and physical testing. In this partnership, CAERI and Humanetics worked side by side, conducting over seventy crash tests and a multitude of simulations, jointly analyzing occupant injury outcomes for seat angles up to 60 degrees. Special emphasis was placed on vulnerable body regions such as the lumbar spine and iliac wing, as well as developing criteria for submarining risk, areas not addressed by legacy procedures. THOR-AV-50M’s flexible structure ensures precise positioning for realistic evaluation in each scenario.
Dr. Z. Jerry Wang, Chief Technology Officer at Humanetics, explains: “THOR-AV-50M was designed from the start as a collaborative innovation, developed to achieve high biofidelity for both upright and reclined postures. This effort has brought together expertise from every continent and shown the impact of combining physical and digital development approaches.”
Industry Partnership and Standardization
Collaboration was at the center of this breakthrough. CAERI’s teamwork model convened global experts, leading Tier-1 suppliers, and university researchers, hosting more than 80 meetings and creating consensus through open technical dialogue. The protocol, now an official standard of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, is driving rapid adoption and innovation across more than twenty major OEMs worldwide.
In the words of CAERI’s Dr. Yu Liu: “By partnering with Humanetics and our global colleagues, we have been able to accelerate the validation of new seating and restraint systems for the benefit of every occupant. Multivariable crash and virtual simulation have created the scientific basis for this next era of occupant safety.”
Unifying Simulation, Analytics, and Human-Centered Design
As vehicle interiors become more adaptive and human-centered, high-fidelity simulation and digital human modeling are transforming how engineers design for both comfort and protection. Humanetics’ FE models and digital twins of the THOR-AV-50M enable detailed analysis of occupant posture and restraint performance in virtual environments, ensuring consistency between simulation and physical testing while accelerating development.
Through solutions like Insight Connect®, Humanetics brings together crash data, simulation outputs, and sensor analytics into a unified collaboration platform. This connected ecosystem turns data into insight, empowering global teams to evaluate injury metrics, visualize performance, and make faster, evidence-based decisions.
By aligning ergonomics and safety, Humanetics supports the creation of vehicle interiors that are as inviting as they are protective. This integrated approach ensures that next-generation autonomous vehicles deliver a new benchmark for both occupant comfort and safety.
Partnership Drives Global Progress
The introduction of the THOR-AV-50M into the C-IASI protocol is a testament to what is possible when technology providers, researchers, and regulators unite behind a shared mission. Humanetics’ Agile Partnership Model brings together OEMs, Tier 1 suppliers, research institutions, and regulators into fast moving co development teams. These partnerships do not just market innovation, they deliver it.
Mark Westen, President of Humanetics Safety, sums it up: “No one tool or technology can move us to zero fatalities by itself. Our goal at Humanetics is to create a comprehensive safety testing ecosystem, where our ATDs, digital ATD models, and data solutions align with the safety vision of the vehicle manufacturers, restraint suppliers, regulatory bodies and NCAPs.”
As tomorrow’s vehicles become more flexible and personalized, only a partnership driven approach leveraging advanced human surrogates and robust digital infrastructure will ensure that safety keeps pace with innovation.
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Mark Brown
Mark is the Product Marketing Manager at Humanetics Safety and works closely with Engineering and Sales to develop and refine content that is both useful and informative for our industry. With over two decades of experience in crash test dummy product Quality, Technical, Sales, and Marketing, Mark produces a wide range of media and publications including our service bulletins, webinars, editorial articles, and contributes to our marketing collateral.