An evaluation of airbag benefits/disbenefits in european vehicles: a combined statistical and case study approach

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Kirk, Alan¹; Frampton, Richard¹; Thomas, Pete¹

An evaluation of airbag benefits/disbenefits in european vehicles: a combined statistical and case study approach

Proceedings of the 2002 International IRCOBI Conference on the Biomechanics of Impact

Affiliations

¹Vehicle Safety Research Centre, Loughborough University, United Kingdom
Abstract and keywords

Any restraint system carries a certain risk of injury from the system itself. It is therefore vital to know the balance of that risk compared to the overall benefits of the system. The objectives of this study were to address those questions by a thorough case review of in-depth real world cases to find problems associated with airbag deployment followed by examining the nature, frequency and mechanisms of AIS ≥ 2 head, neck and thoracic injuries in European vehicles, with and without airbags. Belted and unbelted drivers were examined separately. The analysis considered only frontal impacts.

Keywords: Airbags; Injury Severity; Head; Thorax; Restraint Injury

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Cited By (8)

Year	Entry
2003	Welsh R, Morris A, Clift L. The effect of height on injury outcome for drivers of European passenger cars. In: 47th Annual Proceedings, Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine (AAAM). September 22-24, 2003; Lisbon, Portugal.401-416.
2003	Kirk A, Morris A. Side airbag deployments in the UK: initial case reviews. 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. 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.
2007	Hynd D, Carroll J, Cuerden R. Upper extremity injury study: recommendations for injury prevention priorities. In: Proceedings of the 20th International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV). June 18-21, 2007; Lyon, France.
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.
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