Fatal side impact crash scenarios for rear seat and seat belt-restrained occupants from vulnerable populations.

Conclusions: Older adults suffered thoracic injuries at a higher rate than older children-who suffered predominately head injuries-and most vehicles did not have torso SABs installed, which could have mitigated thoracic injuries. Side impacts in which younger occupants were killed were more severe than impacts that resulted in the death of an older occupant; however, vehicle damage and intrusion in many fatal impacts for both age cohorts appeared similar to that of consumer information testing. Large pickups and heavy vehicles were the striking vehicle in over half of all fatalities; vehicle designs and crash tests should continue to take this into consideration. This research highlights the need for continued work as the automotive safety community seeks to eliminate fatalities in motor vehicle crashes. PMID: 31381380 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Source: Traffic Injury Prevention - Category: Accident Prevention Authors: Tags: Traffic Inj Prev Source Type: research