WARRENDALE, Pa., April 6, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Automotive crashes are the single largest cause of death for pregnant females in the United States, as well as the leading cause of traumatic fetal injury mortality. Each year approximately 160,000 pregnant women are involved in motor vehicle accidents, which lead to the death of 160 women and an additional 865 fetal losses. Unfortunately, up to this point, safety engineers did not have sufficient data on how to prevent injuries and deaths in accidents involving pregnant women.

A new book released by SAE International changes that by providing readers with substantial analysis of pregnant occupant biomechanics.  

Pregnant Occupant Biomechanics—Advances in Automobile Safety Research, edited by Stefan Duma, covers a wider variety of topics in automobile safety research pertaining to pregnant occupant biomechanics. Understanding that the best way to protect the fetus is to protect the mother, given that maternal death has a near 100 percent fetal loss rate, the book gives safety engineers the ability to better protect pregnant female occupants. The book will be available in both hardcover and ebook editions that are available in a suite of formats that also are saved in a personalized elibrary hosted by SAE International.

Given the relative frequency of accidents involving pregnant women, research is vital to safety engineers. The vast majority of fetal losses from car accidents result from separation of the placenta from the uterus, or placental abruption, which accounts for nearly 80 percent of fetal losses in automobile crashes. Through detailed case studies as well as advanced dummy and computer model developments, progress is being made to design safer occupant restraints for pregnant women.

Pregnant Occupant Biomechanics – Advances in Automobile Safety Research provides substantial new analysis and summary data about pregnant occupant biomechanics and serves as a complete resource for issues relating to the pregnant occupant. The book is divided into six chapters which are authored individually by topic experts. This book, filled with precise and original information, is the most up-to-date and complete resource for safety engineers in its field. The first three chapters cover female anatomy, injury incidence and case studies. The latter three chapters build on this information by presenting possible solutions in the form of pregnant dummies, tissue testing and computational models.

The book is applicable for anyone in the broad field of automobile safety, including engineers, physicians and others who are dedicated to advancing automobile safety. It also will be of specific interest to safety design engineers, trauma physicians, OEM engineers, accident reconstruction specialists, occupant restraint suppliers, law enforcement officials, impact biomechanics researchers and human factor specialists. Industry professionals from all fields will appreciate the detailed analysis and groundbreaking foundational research in the field.

The editor, Stefan Duma, is a the department head and professor of biomedical engineering at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech). This joint program between Virginia Tech and Wake Forest University is called the School of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences. Dr. Duma is responsible for 51 tenure and tenure track faculty with more than $25 million in annual expenditures. Dr. Duma was the founding director of the Center for Injury Biomechanics, which has received funding from the NIH, CDC, NSF, DOT-NHTSA, DoD and industry leaders including Ford, Toyota and GM. He is distinguished in his field and widely published, with more than 200 technical papers in the field of injury biomechanics including 80 peer-reviewed papers.

Book Details

Individual chapters cover:

• Information about the female anatomy
• Injury incidence for accidents involving pregnant women
• Case studies concerning these accidents
• Pregnant crash dummy testing
• Tissue testing as a possible solution
• Computational models to address the data

Published: April 2011
Pages: 304
Print Binding: Hardbound
eBook Formats:  pdf, epub, prc
Product Code: PT-150
ISBN: 978-0-7680-4849-0
Price: $119.95 List, $101.95-$113.95 SAE Member

For more information, including free front and back matter, or to order Fundamentals of Automobile Body Structure Design visit: http://books.sae.org/book-pt-150. To request an electronic review copy of the book, email pr@sae.org . Forward published reviews to Shawn Andreassi at pr@sae.org  or SAE International, 400 Commonwealth Dr., Warrendale, PA, 15096-0001, to receive a print copy of the book or another equivalent SAE International book.

Other related books from SAE International include:

• Child Anthropometry for Improved Vehicle Occupant Safety, edited by Matthew Reed and Kathleen Klinich
• Automotive Safety Handbook, Second Edition by UrichSeiffert and LotharWech
• Forensics Biomechanics by Jeffrey Pike

SAE International is a global association of more than 128,000 engineers and related technical experts in the aerospace, automotive and commercial-vehicle industries. SAE International's core competencies are life-long learning and voluntary consensus standards development. SAE International's charitable arm is the SAE Foundation, which supports many programs, including A World In Motion® and the Collegiate Design Series.

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Contact: Shawn Andreassi of SAE International, 1-724-772-8522 or pr@sae.org

SOURCE SAE International