Injury panorama for drivers in frontal car crashes with and without deployed airbag

The purpose of the study presented in this poster was to investigate the injury panorama for the following two groups of drivers involved in frontal car crashes in Sweden: (1) 120 drivers of cars with deployed airbags; and (2) 600 drivers of cars not equipped with airbags. The results should serve as a base for a first approach for evaluating the beneficial effects of restraint systems in cars. The information has been taken from a database developed at the Department of Injury Prevention at Chalmers University in Goeteborg, Sweden. This database consists of information of about 5000 cars involved in crashes in Sweden during 1994 and 1995. In the study, no significant differences, only trends and indications, were found when comparing injuries of drivers in frontal car crashes with and without deployed airbag. The results indicate that airbags are effective protective systems in frontal car collisions, particularly at higher impact velocities. At low velocities, however, the airbag seems to induce injuries not seen in the control group, indicating a disbenefit from airbag deployment in this velocity range. For the covering abstract of the conference see ITRD E203725.