Pelvic fractures account for about 12% of injuries suffered in a side impact. Compared to patients in MVAs without pelvic injury, those with pelvic fracture have more severe injuries and higher mortality rates. LC-1 (lateral compression) unilateral fractures from direct contact with the door, are stable with little internal disruption and may be treated nonsurgically. In contrast, LC-3 bilateral fractures also involve injuries to the pelvis on the side opposite that which contacted the door, are highly unstable, have significant hemorrhage and internal organ damage, and must be treated surgically. In several CIREN (NHTSA, Crash Injury Research and Engineering Network) crash investigations, it appeared that the occupant was trapped between the intruding door and a non-yielding center console, explaining the fracture to the pelvis on the side opposite the door.

In CIREN side impact crashes with 15-46cm of door intrusion, 29 occupants in vehicles with consoles and 9 in vehicles without consoles suffered AIS 2 and 3 pelvic injuries (p<0.05). Experimental testing with USDOT SID, a pendulum and precrushed door and a fixed and crushing seat, with a console, peak accelerations at the pelvis were 24.8g due to door contact, and -10.5g due to console contact. Removing the console decreased minimum acceleration to -3.3g. When the seat was mounted to a track allowing it to displace laterally during impact, into the space occupied by the center console, peak pelvic acceleration decreased to 15.3g. Using a MADYMO model of the pendulum drop experiment, with a finite element door and seat, USDOT SID positioned as the passenger, and a door peak velocity of 6.6 m/sec, initial nearside dummy lateral (+Y) door to pelvis contact force was about 10 x 103 N. As the door pushed the dummy against the console, this increased to about 20 x 103N. With no console and a laterally translating seat, peak pelvic load decreased to about 4 x 103 N, and only one peak was noted. A collapsible console and a seat track which allows lateral displacement of the seat may help to reduce pelvic injury in side impact crashes.