The complexity of inter-related events occurring in injury-producing vehicle side impacts makes it necessary to validate controlled prospective crash studies with retrospective real-world investigations. Adequately detailed field investigation of side impact collisions is a necessary complement to controlled crash studies and other test procedures and modelling.

Over the past five years, the authors have collected a representative sample of over five hundred injury-producing crashes involving passenger cars in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Case studies from this dataset have been selected which closely conform to the impact type, and collision severity, of the proposals for staged-collision testing with respect to side-impact protection standards. The implications for occupant protection are examined through a review ofthe injuries sustained by the vehicle occupants in these real-world crashes.