Investigation of the performance of safety systems for protection of the elderly

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Augenstein, J.¹; Digges, K.²; Bahouth, G.³; Dalmotas, D.⁴; Perdeck, E.¹; Stratton, J.¹

Investigation of the performance of safety systems for protection of the elderly

49th Annual Proceedings, Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine (AAAM)

Affiliations

¹William Lehman Injury Research Center, Miami, Fl

²The George Washington University, Ashburn, VA

³The Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, Calverton, MD

⁴Transport Canada, Ottawa, Canada
Abstract

This study investigates injury occurrence for belted occupants as a function of age. An analysis of NASS/CDS 1997-2003 data was conducted to determine crash involvement rates and injury rates for front seat occupants versus mean occupant age. In frontal and nearside crashes, the average age of MAIS 3+ belted front seat occupants injured in crashes less severe than 15 mph is of the order of 50 years. The average age of the population exposed to crashes less severe than 15 mph is under 40 years old. The crash exposure and frequency if injuries to the elderly were both found to be the highest in low severity crashes. The chest is the most frequent body region injured for the elderly. These findings suggest the need for more benign safety systems to protect the elderly in low severity crashes. Design of safety systems for the elderly should give priority to reducing the chest loading in low severity frontal and near-side crashes.

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Cited By (15)

Year	Entry
2006	Augenstein J, Perdeck E, Digges K, Bahouth G. Residual injuries after recent safety improvements. In: 50th Annual Proceedings, Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine (AAAM). October 16-18, 2006; Chicago, IL.353-362.
2010	Sunnevång C, Rosén E, Boström O, Lechelt U. Thoracic injury risk as a function of crash severity: car-to-car side impact tests with worldsid compared to real-life crashes. In: 54th Annual Proceedings, Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine (AAAM). October 17-20, 2010; Las Vegas, NV.159-168.
2011	Stigson H, Kullgren A. Effect of side impact protection in reducing injuries. In: Proceedings of the 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV). June 13-16, 2011; Washington, DC.
2011	Rhule H, Mallory A, Hagedorn A. Real world older occupant crash data and sensitivity of THOR-NT and WorldSID dummy thoraces. In: Proceedings of the 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV). June 13-16, 2011; Washington, DC.
2017	Digges K, Dalmotas D, Prasad P, Mueller B. The need to control belt routing for silver NCAP ratings. In: Proceedings of the 25th International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV). June 5-8, 2017; Detroit, MI.
2013	Reichert R, Morgan RM, Park C, Digges KH, Kan C. Thoracic and abdominal injuries to drivers in between‐rail frontal crashes. In: Proceedings of the 2013 International IRCOBI Conference on the Biomechanics of Injury. September 11-13, 2013; Gothenburg, Sweden.818-830.
2017	Elrud R, Stigson H, Ohlin M, Alexanderson K, Kjeldgård L, Friberg E. Sickness absence among passenger car occupants following a crash. In: Proceedings of the 2017 International IRCOBI Conference on the Biomechanics of Injury. September 13-15, 2017; Antwerp, Belgium.79-90.
2020	Kullgren A, Stigson H, Axelsson A. Developments in car crash safety since the 1980s. In: Proceedings of the 2020 International IRCOBI Conference on the Biomechanics of Injury. 2020; Munich, Germany.86-99.
2021	Parenteau CS, Courtney A, Campbell IC, Lau E. An update on front-seat occupant injury rates in frontal crashes: focus on modern vehicles. In: Proceedings of the 2021 International IRCOBI Conference on the Biomechanics of Injury. September 8-10, 2021; Online.394-430.
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