To evaluate the effectiveness of the 1985 revision of the Abbreviated Injury Scale in calculating Injury Severity Scores in patients suffering penetrating injury, all patients thus presenting to a Level I Trauma Center over a 12-month period were evaluated. Blunt trauma victims were scored using AIS-85. All penetrating injury patients were scored using both AIS-85 and AIS-80. Mean ISS was not changed by the change in scoring system;​ however, one-quarter of penetrating trauma patients had a difference of >4 points in ISS. Although AIS-85 allows more specific scoring of injuries in patients with penetrating injuries, comparison of groups of these patients using more than one edition of AIS, as well as with victims of blunt trauma, must be made with some caution.