So far, analysis of real-world crashes has not made it possible to evaluate the occupant change of velocity in side impact. This change of velocity is the most pertinent of the lateral-collision violence parameters when occupants are exposed to intrusion by car bodies.

The present paper describes a method for calculating this parameter, and includes a description of the data that must be collected concerning real-world crashes in order to enable its application.

The validity of this method is demonstrated by its application to a series of experimental collisions. The results are highly correlated to the values resulting from the integration of the accelerations found for the pelvis and thorax.

The method is then applied to 60 real-world car-to-car side collisions from the accident survey. The AISs for the pelvis and thorax of the car occupants involved are much more closely related to the occupant ΔV calculated, on the one hand, for the pelvis and, on the other hand, for the thorax, than they are to the ΔV of the car and to impact velocity.

Lastly, for the given occupant ΔV values, correspondences are established between the acceleration levels found with the Hybrid II dummy and the degree of severity of the injuries sustained by living individuals and by cadavers.