Severe injury to near- and far-seated occupants in side impacts by crash severity and belt use

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Viano, David C.¹; Parenteau, Chantal S.¹

Severe injury to near- and far-seated occupants in side impacts by crash severity and belt use

Traffic Inj Prev. 2010;11(1):69-78

©2010 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

Affiliations

¹ProBiomechanics LLC, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
Abstract and keywords

Purpose: This study investigated the risk of severe-to-fatal injury (MAIS 4+F) to near- and far-seated front occupants in side impacts by belt use and crash severity (delta V).

Methods: 1993–2007 NASS-CDS was analyzed for front-seat occupants in side impacts while they were either the near-side or far-side occupant by belt use. Light vehicles were included with model year 1994+. Injury severity was subdivided into MAIS 0–2, 3, and 4+F. The risk for MAIS 4+F injury was determined by dividing the number of MAIS 4+F by the number of exposed occupants with known injuries. Individual NASS-CDS cases were downloaded from the 1997–2007 electronic data to evaluate injury patterns causing high relative risks.

Results: In 35+ mph side-impact delta Vs, the risk for MAIS 4+F injury was 75.4 ± 41.0% for unbelted near-side and 48.1 ± 14.6% for unbelted far-side occupants. The risk was 51.8 ± 14.8% for belted near-side and 30.9 ± 8.2% for far-side occupants. Seat belt use was 81.4% effective in preventing MAIS 4+F injury for near-side occupants and 93.5% for far-side occupants. The relative risk (RR) for unbelted compared to belted occupants was 35.9 for far-side occupants in 10–15 mph delta V crashes. The relative risk was 35.1 for near-side occupants in < 10 mph delta V side impacts. The high relative risks were associated with complex, high-speed multi-collision crashes often with occupant impacts on the windshield, steering wheel, or other frontal components and ejection.

Conclusions: Seat belt use was more effective in preventing severe injury (MAIS 4+F) to far-side occupants than near-side occupants in < 25 mph delta V impacts. High relative risk for unbelted occupants in low-speed side impacts was explained by the fact that the accidents were high-speed, multi-impact collisions. Severe injury was caused by ejection, impact with the side interior, or impact with the frontal components where airbags sometimes deployed.

Keywords: Side impacts, Seat belts, Restraint effectiveness, Motor vehicle crashes, Injury
Links

DOI: 10.1080/15389580903479178

PubMed: 20146146

WoS: 000274535500010
History

Received: 2009-06-23

Accepted: 2009-11-02

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Cited By (11)

Year	Entry
2013	Mathews EA, Balasubramanian S, Seacrist T, Maltese MR, Arbogast KB, Kent RW, Forman J, Higuchi K, Tanji H. Comparison of pediatric and young adult far-side head kinematics in lowspeed lateral and oblique impacts. In: Proceedings of the 23rd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV). May 27-30, 2013; Seoul, South Korea.
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2019	Perez-Rapela D, Markusic C, Whitcomb B, Pipkorn B, Forman JL, Crandall JR. Comparison of the simplified GHBMC to PMHS kinematics in far-side impact. In: Proceedings of the 2019 International IRCOBI Conference on the Biomechanics of Injury. September 11-13, 2019; Florence, Italy.260-281.
2020	Baker CE, Martin PS, Wilson M, Ghajari M, Sharp DJ. The effect of delta-V on traumatic brain injury sustained by vehicle occupants in Great Britain. In: Proceedings of the 2020 International IRCOBI Conference on the Biomechanics of Injury. 2020; Munich, Germany.111-112.
2021	Baker CE, Martin PS, Wilson M, Ghajari M, Sharp DJ. Traumatic brain injury findings from Great Britain’s in-depth RAIDS database relating to delta-V. In: Proceedings of the 2021 International IRCOBI Conference on the Biomechanics of Injury. September 8-10, 2021; Online.726-727.
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2020	Perez Rapela D. Methodology for the Evaluation of Human Response Variability to Intrinsic and Extrinsic Factors Including Uncertainties [PhD thesis]. Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia; May 2020.
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