Risk of injury to restrained children from passenger airbags

Durbin, Dennis R.; Kallan, Michael; Elliott, Michael; Arbogast, Kristy B.; Cornejo, Rebecca A.; Winston, Flaura K.

Affiliations

¹The Department of Pediatrics, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

²The Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Abstract

The number of children killed by passenger airbags (PAB) has declined dramatically in recent years. However, little is known about how commonly children are exposed to PAB, and their risk of nonfatal injuries. Data between 12/1/98 and 11/30/01 from the Partners for Child Passenger Safety study, a unique child-focused crash surveillance system, were used to determine the risk of nonfatal injuries to restrained children in frontal impact crashes. Nearly 1% of all children in crashes were exposed to a deploying PAB. A specific pattern of facial, chest, and upper extremity injuries were found to be significantly more likely in airbag -exposed children. These realworld data may be of use to vehicle manufacturers and restraint suppliers as they face design decisions with regard to child passengers.

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Cited By (1)

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