This study addresses the submarining issue left in frontal impacts today in the passenger cars, and proposes a methodology to assess it. The first part briefly describes the submarining phenomenon that consists of a sliding of the lap belt above iliac spine due to either bad safety belt geometry or poor coupling of the occupant to the car. This mechanism results in severe abdominal injuries (mesanterin laceration, severe hemoperitoneum, perforation,…). Some recent accident data coming from LAB (Laboratoire d’Accidentologie et de Biomécanique) are also presented in order to highlight the increasing importance of this phenomenon as the compartment intrusion is reduced, the knee support area is eliminated in order to avoid other injuries and the use of the seat belt is generalized in passenger car rear seats. The second part explains the reasons why, despite of evidence review, this phenomenon is not taken into account today, neither by the regulations nor by the ratings. The HIII dummy, widely used for safety assessment, integrates a very stiff lumbar spine. This feature prevents the pelvis rotation and consequently submarining. Therefore, other widely used dummies currently available are considered in this study in order to identify a more biofidelic behavior enabling the pelvis rotation and therefore detection of submarining phenomenon. In the third part, a full procedure based on a sled test and involving these suitable dummies is proposed. Associated criteria that could be used to assess the performance of a given restraint system are also described. The procedure is applied to vehicles with or without submarining countermeasures and the results are validated using the feedback on real accident data from the LAB. The results confirm the efficiency of the countermeasures and validate the assessment procedure.