Question

Passengers that are hit from behind in a car can suffer bodily injuries such as whiplash, with accelerations of even small values such as 3.5g. Suppose a large pickup truck hits a small compact car from the back in a inelastic rear end collision that lasts .2 (s). The pickup truck’s mass is 3000kg while the compact car has a mass of 1000kg. The initial speeds of the pickup truck is 25 m/s and the compact car’s is 10 m/s. This speed difference can be concluded to be 34 mph which falls under a moderate collision. What average acceleration would the passengers experience in the compact car during the accident. Would these passengers be susceptible to injuries such as whiplash?

Answer 1