Crash damage patterns associated with chest injuries in far-side rollovers

Digges, Kennerly; Tahan, Fadi; Grzebieta, Raphael; Bambach, Michael; Mattos, Garrett; McIntosh, Andrew

Affiliations

¹The George Washington University, National Crash Analysis Center, USA

²University of New South Wales, Transport and Road Safety Research, Australia

Abstract

The NASS/CDS formed the initial basis for investigating the vehicle damage patterns associated with serious chest injuries suffered by belted occupants in far-side rollovers. MAIS 3 or 4 lung contusions were the most frequent severe chest injury. Unilateral left and right lung contusions and bilateral lung contusions were all observed in the population of injured occupants. The lung injury sources most frequently designated by the NASS investigators were the side interior and the shoulder belt. The crash tests and simulations indicated that ground impact with a lateral component produced roof and front fender damage patterns like those observed in cases with chest injuries. The observed damage patterns suggested the following as possible sources of injury causing environments for belted drivers: (1) lateral loading the roof pillars and left front fender during the third and possibly the seventh quarter-turn, and (2) rebound loading induced by the suspension system during the fourth or eight quarter- turn. Other mechanisms may also be possible in complex rollovers.

Links

URL: http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/pdf/esv/esv23/23ESV-000066.pdf

Cited Works (1)

Year	Entry
2005	Digges K, Eigen AM, Dahdah S. Injury patterns in rollovers by crash severity. In: Proceedings of the 19th International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV). June 6-9, 2005; Washington, DC.

Cited By (5)

Year	Entry
2013	Grzebieta R, Bambach M, McIntosh A, Mattos G, Simmons K, Rechnitzer G, Digges K. Replicating real world rollover crash injuries. In: Proceedings of the 23rd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV). May 27-30, 2013; Seoul, South Korea.
2013	Tahan F, Cohen S, Digges K, Kan C-D. Assessment of a dynamic test device to evaluate vehicle rollover safety. In: Proceedings of the 23rd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV). May 27-30, 2013; Seoul, South Korea.
2015	Tan T, Grzebieta R, Bambach M, Olivier J, McIntosh A. Association between vehicle panel damage and thoracic injury in rollover crashes. In: Proceedings of the 24th International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV). June 8-11, 2015; Gothenburg, Sweden.
2015	Eigen AM, Digges K. Opportunities for injury reduction in rollover crashes. In: Proceedings of the 24th International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV). June 8-11, 2015; Gothenburg, Sweden.
2014	Tahan FJ. An Integrated Approach to Identify Thoracic Injuries in Rollover Crashes [PhD thesis]. Washington, DC: The George Washington University; January 31, 2014.