Patterns of injury in frontal collisions with and without airbags

wbldb

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.

Cited Works (12)

Year	Entry
1995	Huelke DF, Moore JL, Compton TW, Samuels J, Levine RS. Upper extremity injuries related to airbag deployments. J Trauma. April 1995;38(4):482-488.
1996	Loo GT, Siegel JH, Dischinger PC, Rixen D, Burgess AR, Addis MD, O'Quinn T, McCammon L, Schmidhauser CB, Marsh P, Hodge PA, Bents F. Airbag protection versus compartment intrusion effect determines the pattern of injuries in multiple trauma motor vehicle crashes. J Trauma. December 1996;41(6):935-951.
1993	Siegel JH, Mason-Gonzalez S, Dischinger PC, Read M, Cushing BM, Badellino MC, Goodarzi S, Smialek JE, Heatfield BM, Robinson RM, Parkinson K, Hill WJ, Jackson JW, Livingston DJ, Bents FD, Clark CC. Causes and costs of injuries in multiple trauma patients requiring extrication from motor vehicle crashes. J Trauma. December 1993;35(6):920-931.
1988	MacKenzie EJ, Siegel JH, Shapiro S, Moody M, Smith RT. Functional recovery and medical costs of trauma: an analysis by type and severity of injury. J Trauma. March 1988;28(3):281-297.
1995	Freedman EL, Safran MR, Meals RA. Automotive airbag-related upper extremity injuries: a report of three cases. J Trauma. April 1995;38(4):577-581.
1992	Huelke DF, Moore JL, Ostrom M. Air bag injuries and occupant protection. J Trauma. December 1992;33(6):894-898.
1995	Smock WS, Nichols GR II. Airbag module cover injuries. J Trauma. April 1995;38(4):489-493.
1995	Burgess AR, Dischinger PC, O'Quinn TD, Schmidhauser CB. Lower extremity injuries in drivers of airbag-equipped automobiles: clinical and crash reconstruction correlations. J Trauma. April 1995;38(4):509-516.
1995	Lund AK, Ferguson SA. Driver fatalities in 1985-1993 cars with airbags. J Trauma. April 1995;38(4):469-475.
1989	MacKenzie EJ, Steinwachs DM, Shankar B. Classifying trauma severity based on hospital discharge diagnoses: validation of an ICD-9CM to AIS-85 conversion table. Med Care. April 1989;27(4):412-422.
1993	Zador PL, Ciccone MA. Automobile driver fatalities in frontal impacts: air bags compared with manual belts. Am J Public Health. May 1993;83(5):661-666.
1993	Blacksin MF. Patterns of fracture after air bag deployment. J Trauma. December 1993;35(6):840-843.

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.
1998	Elhagediab AM, Rouhana SW. Patterns of abdominal injury in frontal automotive crashes. In: Proceedings of the 16th International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV). May 31–June 4, 1998; Windsor, Ontario, Canada.327-337.
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.
2004	Compigne S, Caire Y, Quesnel T, Verries J-P. Non-injurious and injurious impact response of the human shoulder three-dimensional analysis of kinematics and determination of injury threshold. Stapp Car Crash J. 2004;48:89-123. SAE 2004-22-0005.
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]. Waterloo, ON: University of Waterloo; 2018.
2002	Lee JB. Development of a Finite Element Model of the Human Abdomen [PhD thesis]. Detroit, MI: Wayne State University; 2002.