Injury-reducing effect of seat belts on rear seat passengers

Norin, H.; Nilsson-Ehle, A.; Saretok, E.; Tingvall, C.

An investigation of the effect of belt use for rear seat occupants has been carried out by Volvo Car Corporation and the Analysis Department of the Swedish Road Safety Office. (TSV).

The report is based on approximately 2,000 relatively serious accidents in Sweden in which a Volvo 140 or 240 has been involved and in which there was at least one rear seat occupant in the Volvo Vehicle.

From the results we can see that seat belt use by rear seat occupants in this accident material is 7.7%. The seat belt use by rear seat occupants is decidedly influenced by the type of journey, and also by type of seat belt available in the car. Rear seat occupants differ from front seat occupants in being largely children. A clear difference is apparent in injury frequency between children and adults. If this difference in age grouping and injury frequency is taken into account, the analysis indicates that the injury risk is approximately the same for all seats in the car. Furthemnore there is a clearly apparent difference in injury percentages for belted and unbelted occupants, both children and adults. The injury-reducing effect of seat belt use in the rear seat is about 28% for adult occupants.

Year

Entry

1983

Nygren Å. Injuries to car occupants: some aspects of the interior safety of cars: a study of a five-year material from an insurance company. Acta Oto-Laryngol. 1983;95(suppl 395):1-135.

1987

Tingvall C. Children in cars: some aspects of the safety of children as car passengers in road traffic accidents. Acta Paediatr Scand. October 1987;76(suppl 339):1-35.

1994

Huelke DF, Compton CP. The effects of seat belts on injury severity of front and rear seat occupants in the same frontal crash. In: 38th Annual Proceedings, Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine (AAAM). September 21-23, 1994; Lyon, France.1-10.

1994

Lundell B, Norin H, Persson M, Pilhall S. Rear seat safety of estate cars: new concepts. In: Proceedings of the 14th International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV). May 23-26, 1994; Munich, Germany.1645-1654.

1982

Almqvist R, Mellander H, Koch M. Frontal crash protection in a modern car concept. In: Proceedings of the 9th International Technical Conference on Experimental Safety Vehicles (ESV). November 1-4, 1982; Kyoto, Japan.154-163.