Patterns of injury in frontal collisions with and without airbags

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Dischinger, Patricia C.¹; Ho, Shiu M.¹; Kerns, Timothy J.¹; Brennan, Peter²

Patterns of injury in frontal collisions with and without airbags

Proceedings of the 1996 International IRCOBI Conference on the Biomechanics of Impact

Affiliations

¹University of Maryland at Baltimore, National Study Center for Trauma and EMS, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

²Faculty of Medicine, University of Sydney, Australia
Abstract

To assess the effect of airbags on patterns of injuries-sustained in vehicular crashes, records were reviewed for the 1,369 seatbelt-restrained drivers admitted to Maryland hospitals in 1993 and 1994. The airbag group had a lower incidence of spinal, thoracic, abdominal and serious facial injuries; however, that group also had a higher incidence of brain injuries and upper and lower extremity fractures. This study of a relatively small sample suggests that airbags are associated with changing patterns of injury. Additional studies involving larger study groups and crash reconstructions are warranted to further elucidate injury patterns associated with airbag deployment.

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Cited By (8)

Year	Entry
1999	Dischinger PC, Ho SM, Kufera JA. The epidemiology of traumatic brain injury: a statewide study of hospitalized Maryland drivers. In: 43rd Annual Proceedings, Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine (AAAM). September 20-21, 1999; Barcelon, Spain.71-88.
2003	Dischinger P, Read K, Kerns T, Ho S, Kufera J, Burch C, Jawed N, Burges A, Bents F. Causes and outcomes of mild traumatic brain injury: an analysis of CIREN data. In: 47th Annual Proceedings, Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine (AAAM). September 22-24, 2003; Lisbon, Portugal.577-589.
2006	Lamielle S, Cuny S, Foret-Bruno JY, Petit P, Vezin P, Verriest JP, Guillemot H. Abdominal injury patterns in real frontal crashes: influence of crash conditions, occupant seat and restraint systems. In: 50th Annual Proceedings, Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine (AAAM). October 16-18, 2006; Chicago, IL.109-124.
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2007	Johannsen H, Schindler V. Development and assessment of a surface force abdominal sensor. In: Proceedings of the 20th International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV). June 18-21, 2007; Lyon, France.
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2018	Gierczycka D. Investigation of Thorax Response and Potential for Injury in Side Impacts Using Integrated Detailed Human and Vehicle Finite-Element Models [PhD thesis]. University of Waterloo; 2018.
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