Field Data Analysis of Rear Occupant Injuries Part II: Children, Toddlers and Infants

This paper describes how child safety continues to be a very important issue in automotive safety for many reasons, including reported cases of serious injury from airbag deployments. As a result of extensive public education campaigns, most children are now placed in rear seats of vehicles. Accordingly, a more precise understanding of rear-seat occupant protection is developing as the second and third rows have become the primary seating area for children in SUVs, vans and passenger cars. The objective of this study was to: (1) review field crash and injury data from rear seats, (2) identify the distribution of children and infants in rear seats; and (3) analyze injury risks in various crash modes. The data base used was the 1991-1999 NASS-CDS.