Safety Assessment of Sunroof Status on Radio Frequency Electromagnetic Exposure Levels for Drivers in Vehicle-to-Vehicle Communication

With the widespread application of vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication technology, sunroofs have enhanced user experience while introducing novel electromagnetic exposure scenarios that may pose health risks to drivers. This study employs COMSOL Multiphysics to simulate three sunroof scenarios (no sunroof, sunroof closed, and sunroof open) to assess human exposure levels. The computational models incorporate a full-scale vehicle, a V2V antenna, and an anatomical human model. The whole-body averaged specific absorption rate (SARwb) and SAR averaged over 10g tissues (SAR10g) in the central nervous system (CNS) are assessed against the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) public exposure limits. The results indicate that the sunroof open condition (worst-case exposure scenario) significantly increases SAR deposition, with SARwb reaching 0.318 mW kg-1 (0.396% of the ICNIRP limit of 0.08 W kg-1). This value represents a 1.45 times and 4.68 times increase compared to the sunroof closed and no sunroof conditions, respectively. In the worst-case exposure scenario, the superficial skin tissue exhibits the maximum SAR10g (72.39 mW kg-1), representing a 29.30% increase compared to the sunroof closed state (55.99 mW kg-1) and corresponding to only 3.62% of the ICNIRP limit (2 W kg-1). Simultaneously, CNS tissues exhibit significant increases in SAR10g values, with grey matter displaying the most pronounced elevation (9.58 times), exceeding that of white matter (9.08 times) and thalamus (8.99 times). All results remain below the ICNIRP limits, confirming that V2V communication systems pose no health risks to drivers and provide a basis for occupant protection in connected vehicles.