Crashes involving rollover in 1987 accounted for 5,976 fatalities in passenger cars and 3,658 in light trucks and vans. Approximately 16% of the serious injuries and fatalities to passenger car occupants and 42% of the serious injuries to light truck occupants are a result of rollover crashes.

This paper presents the results of accident data analyses which are focusing on the development of a crashworthiness rollover classification system and severity index in which rollover events with similar characteristics can be groupedt o permit bettera ssessmenotf injury causationa nd mitigation concepts. The paper pre$ents first, descriptive analyses of rollover crashes utilizing vehicle, crash, and injury parameters, second, a status report on the development of a crashworthinessro llover classificationa nd severity system and third, analyses of ejected occupant$ who account for approximately one-half of the serious injuries in passengerc ar and light truck rollover crashes