Review of injury mitigation strategies and methods of assessment for passenger vehicle rollover crashes in Australia

Rollover crashes are one of the most severe crash modes for passenger vehicle occupants in Australia. They produce a wide range of injury patterns due to their ballistic and chaotic nature. Thus, multiple injury mitigation strategies are required to protect occupants against the large variety of potential loading and impact scenarios. Many strategies (e.g. side curtain airbags and upper interior head protection) have been employed to reduce the occurrence of injuries in rollover crashes with varying success. Recent epidemiological research regarding serious and fatal head, spine, and thoracic injury in pure rollover crashes has identified distinct injury patterns and characteristics. Further, the relationships between these injury patterns and specific occupant, vehicle, and crash factors have also been identified. This work reviews current and proposed injury mitigation techniques specific to pure rollover crashes in light of these recent findings and attempts to identify the types of injuries that each strategy would be most effective at reducing. The injury characteristics previously identified serve as a basis from which to evaluate the estimated effectiveness that particular countermeasures and injury mitigation strategies might have for the Australian passenger vehicle fleet. The findings will provide an up-to-date review with specific focus on Australian rollover characteristics that can be used to inform future regulatory and consumer rating tests.