The anthropometric profile of the injured car occupant and the incidence of injury severity

Backaitis, Stanley H.; Stephens, Marvin M.

Affiliations

¹Office of Crashworthiness, Motor Vehicle Programs, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

²Office of Statistics and Analysis, Research and Development, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

Abstract

To establish a profile of automobile and small truck occupants involved in injury accidents, the Multi-Disciplinary Accident Investigation (MDAI) files containing 11,278 injuries were interrogated for frequency distribution of injury as a function of seating location, sex, age, weight and height of occupants. The data indicates that the average injured occupant is 20-24 years of age, male, has a weight of 168 lbs. and is 69.2 in. high. While the mean weight and height of the injured population correlate well with the mean of the U.S. population, the data shows greater incidence of injury to taller and heavier occupants. The male and female occupants have in general similar distributions of injury severity. The data is organized to identify occupant positions in the vehicle in injury producing accidents, and to provide some anthropometric criteria for the design of occupant restraint systems.

Cited Works (2)

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Cited By (3)

Year	Entry
1983	Schneider LW, Robbins DH, Pflüg MA, Snyder RG. Development of Anthropometrically Based Design Specifications for an Advanced Adult Anthropomorphic Dummy Family, Volume 1. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Traffic Research Institute (UMTRI); December 1983. UMTRI Publication UMTRI-83-53-1.
1978	Walz FH, Sprenger HJ, Niederer PF. Severely and fatally injured rear seat car passengers (oais ≥ 2) in Switzerland during 1976. In: 22nd Annual Proceedings, Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine (AAAM). July 10-14, 1978; Ann Arbor, MI.129-140.
2001	Kress TA, Porta DJ. Characterization of leg injuries from motor vehicle impacts. In: Proceedings of the 17th International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV). June 4-7, 2001; Amsterdam, The Netherlands.