Padding materials are routinely used to reduce the potential for head injury and the interior of vehicles has been identified as an area where injury can occur in the absence of padding. Recent rulemaking by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has identified padding as a potential mechanism for reduction in head injury and have recently updated vehicle interior padding requirements. Helmets utilize padding for energy management so as to reduce the potential for head injury.

We have recently conducted padding studies to evaluate the effect of padding on the Head Injury Criterion (HIC), linear acceleration and angular acceleration.