This study was designed to investigate factors involved with shoulder injuries and their influence on injury patterns of other body regions in nearside narrow object impacts. CIREN cases from 2000‐2011 were examined for nearside narrow object crashes involving passenger cars, light trucks and vans. Occupants with shoulder injuries were identified, and crash, vehicle, occupant and injury characteristics were evaluated. After controlling for delta‐V, occupant stature, vehicle type and direct damage location, results of the matched‐pair analysis showed that the primary direction of force can play a role in shoulder injuries, with anterior oblique force vectors increasing the incidence of this injury. Additionally, differences in injury patterns between the shoulder injury and non‐injury groups suggest an increase in thoracic and abdominal injuries and a decrease in pelvic and lower extremity injuries when an occupant sustains a shoulder injury in this crash scenario. Further research is needed to better understand the load paths and crash factors involved in nearside narrow object impacts with and without shoulder injury. These findings are pertinent to dummy evaluations (biofidelity, injury criteria), as the pure lateral impact‐based ES2‐re and WorldSID have different seated heights and different torso and pelvis designs.