Belted driver protection in frontal impact: what has been achieved and where do future priorities lie?

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Frampton, Richard¹; Welsh, Ruth¹; Thomas, Pete¹

Belted driver protection in frontal impact: what has been achieved and where do future priorities lie?

46th Annual Proceedings, Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine (AAAM)

Affiliations

¹Vehicle Safety Research Centre, Loughborough University, U.K
Abstract

Examining injuries to real people in real crashes is the most meaningful way to validate improvements in crashworthiness as well as to determine where future priorities lie. Examination of U.K national statistics showed that, coincident with the introduction of airbag/pretensioner restraints, there was a significant fall in the rates of killed/seriously injured car occupants as well as a significant fall in the number of car occupant fatalities.

Interrogation of the UK in-depth crash injury data for belted drivers in frontal crashes between 20–70 km/h ETS showed substantial reductions in AIS 2+ injury to the head in newer cars. In the same sample of crashes, no corresponding reductions in AIS 2+ injury were found for the chest, thigh and leg.

Cited Works (10)

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Cited By (7)

Year	Entry
2004	Frampton R, Williams O, Thomas P. Factors related to serious injury in post-NCAP european cars involved in frontal crashes. In: 48th Annual Proceedings, Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine (AAAM). September 13-15, 2004; Key Biscayne, FL.15-33.
2006	Frampton R, Page M, Thomas P. Factors related to fatal injury in frontal crashes involving European cars. In: 50th Annual Proceedings, Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine (AAAM). October 16-18, 2006; Chicago, IL.35-56.
2006	Page M, Rackliff L. Deriving and validating a road safety performance indicator for vehicle fleet passive safety. In: 50th Annual Proceedings, Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine (AAAM). October 16-18, 2006; Chicago, IL.317-332.
2009	Frampton R, Lenard J. The potential for further development of passive safety. In: 53rd Annual Proceedings, Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine (AAAM). October 5-7, 2009; Baltimore, MD.51-60.
2012	Frampton R, Lenard J, Compigne S. An in-depth study of abdominal injuries sustained by car occupants in frontal crashes. In: 56th Annual Proceedings, Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine (AAAM). October 14-17, 2012; Seattle, WA.137-149.
2003	Thomas P, Frampton R. Crash testing for real-world safety: what are the priorities for casualty reduction? In: Proceedings of the 18th International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV). May 19-22, 2003; Nagoya, Japan.
2003	Thomas P, Frampton R. Real-world crash performance of recent model cars: next steps in injury prevention. In: Proceedings of the 2003 International IRCOBI Conference on the Biomechanics of Impact. September 25, 2003; Lisbon, Portugal.293-307.