Airbag Deployment Research Articles

Research on inflation and floating-up process of unmanned underwater vehicle based on collaborative simulation technology

For solving the problem of unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) recovery, a multidisciplinary collaborative simulation method is proposed to simulate the inflatable deployment of an annular airbag and the motion of an UUV: a) a deployment dynamic model of the underwater airbag is established, the volume expansion rate curve of the airbag during the inflatable deployment process based on the control volume algorithm is obtained, and the accuracy of the model is verified by experiments; b) under the condition of a constant volume expansion rate of the airbag, a hydrodynamic model that couples the six-degree of freedom rigid body motion and the local deployment of the airbag is established, and calculations are performed using a custom program. The simulation method is used to study the effects of the ‘stop’ water depth on the motion characteristics of the vehicle, and the accuracy of the calculations is verified via the two-way fluid-structure interaction method. According to the calculation results for the effective deployment volume of the airbag and the motion curve of the centre of mass of the underwater vehicle, the ultimate floating depth of the vehicle can be predicted, which provides a reference for engineering implementation.

Endothelial Cell Loss in Corneal Grafts From Donors Who Sustained Gunshot Wound to the Head or Airbag Deployment in a Motor Vehicle Accident.

To compare the endothelial cell density (ECD) and quality of corneal grafts from young donors who sustained airbag deployment in motor vehicle accidents (MVA) or gunshot wounds (GSW) to the head with grafts from donors of similar age who died of other causes. This is a retrospective comparative series of 65 corneal grafts from 33 young donors (mean age, 29.60 ± 8.95 yrs), with the cause of death either MVA with airbag deployment (n = 7), GSW to the head (n = 14), or other nontrauma-related cause (n = 12). Donor characteristics, graft quality on slit-lamp examination, ECD, and areas of endothelial cell loss on specular microscopy were compared between the groups. Donor age, graft quality on slit-lamp examination, and death-to-preservation time were similar between the groups. Statistically significant differences in focal areas of endothelial cell loss were found in the MVA- and GSW-derived grafts compared with the nontrauma-related grafts (85.7% vs. 0%, P value 0.0002 and 92.5% vs. 0%, P value <0.0001, respectively). Mean ECD was significantly lower in the 14 MVA-derived grafts (ECD, 3117 ± 218 cells/mm) and in the 27 GSW-derived grafts (ECD, 3234 ± 381 cells/mm) than in the 24 nontrauma-related grafts (ECD, 3511 ± 312 cells/mm, P values 0.0002 and 0.0068, respectively). No primary graft failures were reported for any of the grafts by masked observers. MVA- and GSW-derived grafts have lower ECD counts and more areas of endothelial cell loss compared with nontrauma-related grafts. Further studies are needed to evaluate long-term outcomes of such donor grafts.

Injury risk curves in far-side lateral motor vehicle crashes by AIS level, body region and injury code

Objective The objective of this study was to develop injury risk curves as a function of change in vehicle velocity for occupants in far-side lateral motor vehicle crashes (MVCs) by AIS level, body region, and specific AIS codes that commonly occur in this crash mode. Methods The National Automotive Sampling System-Crashworthiness Data System (NASS-CDS) years 2000–2015 database was queried, resulting in 4,495 non-weighted far-side crashes. For each case, occupant age, sex, and the following metadata were collected: vehicle model year, vehicle body type, lateral delta-v, normalized PDOF, multiple impacts, belt use, seat position, object contacted, striking vehicle body type, maximum crush extent and side airbag deployment. Multivariable logistic regression was used to develop risk curves for AIS 2+ through 5+ injuries, AIS 2+ injuries by body region (head, thorax, lower extremity), and for each of the 10 most frequent far-side AIS 2+ injuries. Significant covariates were determined by backwards elimination (p < 0.05). The full dataset and a subsampled dataset of only cases with side airbag deployment were used to develop risk curves. Results For AIS 2+ through 5+ injury, greater delta-V was associated with greater injury risk (OR’s: 2.48–3.66 per 11.9 kph increase) and belt use was associated with lower risk (OR’s: 0.04–0.36 compared to unbelted). Multiple impacts were significant predictors of increased AIS 3+, 4+ and 5+ injury risk (OR’s: 2.56, 2.27 and 2.83 compared to single impact). For AIS 2+ body region injuries, lateral delta-V and maximum CDC extent were positively associated with increased head, thorax and lower extremity injury risk while belt use was associated with lower risk. Increased lateral delta-v, unbelted status, and greater maximum CDC extent frequently increased injury risk for the most common far-side injuries. Side airbag deployment was not a significant covariate for the injury risk models. Conclusions The resulting risk models expand upon previous literature gaps to provide a more comprehensive view of contributors to injury risk for occupants in far-side MVCs. This study yields risk curves based on the latest available NASS-CDS data.

Motor Vehicle Crashes in Pregnancy: Maternal and Fetal Outcomes

BACKGROUND Motor vehicle crashes (MVCs) are a leading cause of death in pregnant women. Even after minor trauma, there is risk of fetal complications. The purpose of this study was to compare injuries and outcomes in pregnant with matched nonpregnant women after MVC and evaluate the incidence and type of pregnancy-related complications. METHODS Retrospective study at a Level I trauma center included pregnant MVC patients, admitted 2009 to 2019. Pregnant patients were matched for age, seatbelt use, and airbag deployment with nonpregnant women (1:3). Gestation-related complications included uterine contractions, vaginal bleeding, emergency delivery, and fetal loss. RESULTS During the study period, there were 6,930 MVC female admissions. One hundred forty-five (2%) were pregnant, matched with 387 nonpregnant. The seat belt use (71% in nonpregnant vs. 73% in pregnant, p = 0.495) and airbag deployment (10% vs. 6%, p = 0.098) were similar in both groups. Nonpregnant women had higher Injury Severity Score (4 vs. 1, p < 0.0001) and abdominal Abbreviated Injury Scale (2 vs. 1, p < 0.001), but a smaller proportion sustained abdominal injury (18% vs. 53%, p < 0.0001). Mortality (1% vs. 0.7%, p = 0.722), need for emergency operation (6% vs. 3%, p = 0.295) or angiointervention (0.3% vs. 0%, p = 0.540), ventilator days (3 vs. 8, p = 0.907), and intensive care unit (4 vs. 4, p = 0.502) and hospital length of stay (2 vs. 2, p = 0.122) were all similar. Overall, 13 (11.1%) patients developed gestation-related complications, most commonly uterine contractions (6.3%), need for emergency delivery (3.5%), and vaginal bleeding (1.4%). CONCLUSION Most pregnant patients hospitalized for MVC suffered minor injuries. Pregnant women had lower Injury Severity Score and abdominal Abbreviated Injury Scale than matched nonpregnant women. However, there was still a considerable incidence of gestation-related complications. It is imperative that pregnant patients be closely monitored even after minor trauma. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE Prognostic and epidemiological, level III.

Blunt Cerebrovascular Injury Screening Criteria Should Include Motor Vehicle Crash Characteristics.

Current screening criteria miss 30% of blunt cerebrovascular injuries (BCVIs). Motor vehicle collisions (MVCs) are the leading BCVI mechanism, and delineating MVC characteristics associated with BCVI formation may augment current screening criteria. We retrospectively identified BCVI Denver injury screening criteria as able from the Crash Injury Research and Engineering Network (CIREN) database. Severe MVC markers were considered: mean change in velocity (delta-v) greater than 40 km/hour, steering wheel airbag deployment, ejection, or rollover. 93 BCVIs were included. Injury screening criteria were not present in 37/93 (39.8%) BCVIs. Vertebral BCVI more often had injury screening criteria than internal carotid BCVIs (73.2% vs 26.8%, P = .001). There was a significant difference in delta-v (30.78 km/hour vs 51.00 km/hour, P < .001) between BCVI with and without injury screening criteria. BCVI without injury screening criteria more often had safety device use through seatbelt position snug across the hips (94.6% vs 74.5%, P = .01) and pretensioner deployment (92.6% vs 70.2%, P = .04). Examining only drivers, BCVI without injury screening criteria more often had steering wheel airbag deployment (89.7% vs 68.9%, P = .05). Markers of severe MVC were seen in 36/37 (97.3%) BCVIs without injury screening criteria. BCVI without injury screening criteria occurred during higher deceleration MVCs with more frequent/appropriate safety device use, suggesting crash deceleration as a mechanism of BCVI formation. Expanding BCVI screening criteria to encompass severe MVCs may lessen the number of BCVI missed.

Automatic detection of human's falls from heights for airbag deployment via inertial measurements

Workers in different industrial sectors, mainly in the construction and energy areas, face the daily risky situation of falling from the height accidentally, even wearing safety harnesses. To actively protect workers, a safety jacket is proposed. The jacket is equipped with an airbag cushion and an inertial measurement unit, located on the back, to sense the body motion hl. An algorithm deploys the airbag automatically for falls from heights greater than 1m, leaving enough time for the airbag to be fully inflated. The proposed algorithm is tested and validated against experimental data collected during real falls performed by a professional stuntman, and during months of daily routine workers' life. Particular attention is devoted to the calibration of the tuning parameters, with the aim of the best trade-off between false positives' minimization, reactiveness, and robustness.

Assessment of lumbar spinal disc injury in frontal crashes

Frontal vehicle crashes have been a leading cause of spinal injuries in recent years. Reconstruction of frontal crashes using computational models and spinal load analysis helps us understand the patterns of injury and load propagation during frontal crashes. By reconstructing a real crash test and using a viscoelastic crash dummy model, spinal injury patterns were analyzed. The results indicated that a moderate crash with an impact speed of 56 km/h leads to injuries in L1-L2 and L5-S1 levels (L for lumbar and S for sacral vertebrae). The largest spinal loads and injuries were mainly observed immediately after the airbag deployment when the peak of the crash acceleration transpires. Also, the effects of impulse magnitude on the spinal loads and head injury criterion (HIC) showed that HIC is more sensitive than compressive forces to the magnitude of impulse. Moreover, the effects of disc preconditioning as a major factor in the risk of injury was evaluated. The results demonstrate that as the lumbar spine is subjected to a longer preloading, it will be more vulnerable to injury; preconditioning of the discs more adversely affected the risk of injury than a 10% increase in the crash impulse. Overall the results highlight the importance of spinal injury prevention in frontal crashes.

Airbag Burns: An Unfortunate Consequence of Motor Vehicle Safety.

Thousands of people are injured in motor vehicle collisions daily and the mandated installation of airbags protects passengers but can also cause injuries from deployment including cutaneous burns. We sought to characterize the patterns and outcomes of burns resulting from airbag deployment by performing a retrospective review of all patients evaluated by the burn service from May 1, 2015 to April 30, 2019. Inclusion criteria were patients of all ages with burn injuries related to airbag deployment. Demographic data, burn characteristics, and outcomes were reviewed. Seventeen patients met the inclusion criteria: 82.4% female and 17.6% male. The average age was 40.4 years. Fifteen patients had second-degree and two had third-degree burns. The average TBSA was 0.45%. The hands or upper extremity (88%) were most often injured, but there were two chest, one neck, and one anterior thigh burns. Eight patients suffered multiple burns. Burn etiology (chemical vs thermal) was often not specified. No patients required hospitalization or surgical intervention, and all wounds healed with wound care. The average time to re-epithelialization was 11 days. Although airbags prevent mortality and serious injury, the exothermic chemical reaction that inflates the airbag is responsible for deployment-related burns. Since there is a chemical and thermal component, all airbag-related burns should undergo chemical decontamination on the initial presentation. Burns related to airbag deployment tend to be small and do not require grafting; however, patients suffer from associated pain, scarring, and burn management can be a financial and time burden to the patient.

Study of the Pattern and Frequency of Road Traffic Injuries in Car Occupants in the Eastern Part of Iran

Background: Since Iran has one of the highest mortality rates of car accidents in the world, the study of the pattern and reasons of trauma in car occupants can provide useful information to determine the underlying causes of injuries and deaths in traffic accidents. Accordingly, this study was conducted to determine the pattern, frequency, and causes of traumatic injuries caused by traffic accidents in car occupants.Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted during the first 6 months of 2017 in Shahid Beheshti Hospital in Sabzevar City, Razavi Khorasan Province, Iran. The data were obtained from the medical records of patients and the checklist designed by our research team. Results: During the period of study, 300 people were involved in car accidents, of whom 58.3% were men with an average age of 35.16 years. In both sexes, 29.3% of the subjects were in the age group of 30-40 years. Twenty-two car occupants were involved in non-injury car accidents. No significant relationship was found between traumatic injuries and variables of sex, seatbelt use, airbag deployment, and the seat occupant in the cars (P&gt;0.05), as well as between death and variables of sex, airbag deployment and seat occupant in cars (P&gt;0.05). But there was a significant relationship between death and fastening seat belts (P=0.003). Conclusion: The results of this study revealed that sex, airbag deployment, and seat occupant had no effect on traumatic injury or mortality rate in the car occupants. However, fastening the seatbelt can reduce the mortality rate in car occupants, but it does not impact the traumatic injuries rate.

Should airbags be deactivated for wheelchair-seated drivers?

Objective Field data have shown significant benefit from driver airbag for occupant protection in frontal crashes. However, vehicle modifiers almost always permanently deactivate airbags for wheelchair-seated drivers. The objective of this study was to conduct sled tests and computational simulations to answer whether driver airbags should be deactivated for drivers seated in wheelchairs. Methods Five sled tests were conducted under a 48-kph 20-g frontal crash pulse all with driver airbag. Seat-belt fit (good, poor, and unbelted), airbag deployment time (proper and late), and occupant size (midsize male and small female HIII ATDs) were varied in the tests. The 2006 Chrysler Town-and-Country minivan was selected as the nominal vehicle environment, and a surrogate wheelchair with a docking securement system was used for all sled tests. ATD injury measures for the head, neck, chest, and lower extremities were recorded in each test, and were used for validating a set of MADYMO models. Parametric studies with a total of 28 MADYMO simulations were then conducted to investigate the airbag effects on occupant injury risks with varied occupant size, belt fit, and impact angle (0, 15, and 30 deg). Results The sled tests showed potential safety concerns for wheelchair-seated drivers with a poor belt fit or without a belt. Specifically, the unbelted midsize male ATD sustained high femur forces and the small female ATD with poor belt fit sustained high chest deflections. The parametric simulations showed that airbag generally improved the protection for wheelchair-seated drivers. It is especially useful for unbelted wheelchair-seated drivers, and is also helpful for reducing the head and neck injury risks regardless of the belt condition, occupant size, and impact angle. Conclusions This is the first study using sled tests and computational simulations to investigate the effects of airbag deployment on injury risks of wheelchair-seated drivers. Overall, the results showed little basis for concern that the energy of deploying a driver airbag in today’s vehicles will cause serious-to-fatal injuries to drivers seated in wheelchairs. The results of this study therefore support the idea that driver airbags generally offer tangible safety benefits for a wide range of wheelchair-seated drivers in frontal crashes.

Identifying heterogeneous factors for driver injury severity variations in snow-related rural single-vehicle crashes

Snowy weather is consistently considered as a hazardous factor due to its potential leading to severe fatal crashes. A seven-year crash dataset including rural highway single vehicle crashes from 2010 to 2016 in Washington State is applied in the present study. Pseudo elasticity analysis is conducted to investigate significant impact factors and the temporal stability of model specifications is tested via a likelihood ratio test. The proposed model based on the seven-year dataset is able to capture the individual-specific heterogeneity across crash records for four significant factors, i.e., surface ice, male, and airbag combine deployment for minor injury, and male for serious injury and fatality. Their estimated parameters were found to be normal distribution instead of fixed value over the observations. Other significant impact factors with fixed effects are: inroad object, animal, overturn, surface wet, surface snow, unusual horizontal design, medium and high speed limits, driver age, impaired condition, no belt usage, vehicle type, airbag deployment. Especially, when compared to significant factors for crashes under other weather conditions, male indicator and impaired condition show significant higher effects in snow-related crashes. The results of temporal stability test show that the model specification is generally not temporally stable for driver injury severity model based on the years of crash data that were used, especially for longer period (more than 3-year dataset). Models that allow the explanatory variables to track temporal heterogeneity, are of great interest and can be explored in future research.

A methodology for out of position occupant identification from pressure sensors embedded in a vehicle seat

The airbag deployment against an out of position (OP) occupant is critical. The OP condition can be hardly expected during design, while a too close airbag deployment can cause serious injuries instead of mitigating the crash effects. An adaptive airbag system would be capable to adjust its deployment to the inside scenario. However, the integration between human passengers and intelligent vehicle requires the airbag control unit to be aware of the actual occupant(s) position. In the present research, a methodology for monitoring the occupant(s) position is developed and tested with a seat prototype. A layout of thin film sensors monitors the interface pressure between the occupant and the seat cover. An inertial measurement unit (IMU) monitors the accelerations of the vehicle, considered the reference moving platform. A microcontroller is programmed for pressure sensors calibration, IMU alignment with the vehicle reference system, signals processing, OP detection, and identification. Real driving experiments on a race track were performed in the correct position and in three different OPs. The comparison of the pressure center in longitudinal and transversal directions with the vehicle acceleration enables to identify the OPs.

Evaluation of General Motors Event Data Recorder Performance in Semi-Trailer Rear Underride Collisions

&lt;div class="section abstract"&gt;&lt;div class="htmlview paragraph"&gt;The objective of this study was to analyze the validity of airbag control module data in semi-trailer rear underride collisions. These impacts involve unusual collision dynamics, including long crash pulses and minimal bumper engagement [&lt;span class="xref"&gt;1&lt;/span&gt;]. For this study, publicly available data from 16 semi-trailer underride guard crash tests performed by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) were used to form conclusions about the accuracy of General Motors airbag control module (ACM) delta-V (ΔV) data in a semi-trailer rear underride scenario. These tests all utilized a 2009 or 2010 Chevrolet Malibu impacting a stationary 48’ or 53’ semi-trailer at a speed of 35 mph. Nine tests were fully overlapped collisions, six were 30% overlapped, and one was 50% overlapped [&lt;span class="xref"&gt;2&lt;/span&gt;]. The IIHS test vehicles were equipped with calibrated 10000 Hz accelerometer units. Event Data Recorder (EDR) data imaged post-accident from the test vehicles were compared to the reference IIHS data. For each test, root mean square error (RMSE), the percent error over time, and the difference between the EDR ΔV and the IIHS ΔV, was quantified, plotted, and related to crash pulse. This analysis revealed a general trend of decreasing EDR ΔV parity with an increasing crash pulse duration, although overall differences remained low for most tests. Eleven tests, all with airbag deployments, converged towards an average of 3.3% error at the end of the crash pulse, which were 150-270 ms. EDR recorded ΔVs were in the range of 29.8-39.9 mph. Five tests, three of which were non-deployments, diverged to higher percentage error averaging 12.7% at an EDR ΔV of 31.8-40.0 mph. All higher error tests were 30% overlapped and had the highest crash pulse durations of 240-300 ms. One fully overlapped test generated highly unusual EDR data due to failure of the rear underride guard mounting bolts and plates.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;

Preliminary injury risk estimation for occupants involved in frontal crashes by combining computer simulations and real crashes.

The fatality rate can be dramatically reduced with the help of emergency medical services. The purpose of this study was to establish a computational algorithm to predict the injury severity, so as to improve the timeliness, appropriateness, and efficacy of medical care provided. The computer simulations of full-frontal crashes with rigid wall were carried out using LS-DYNA and MADYMO under different collision speeds, airbag deployment time, and seatbelt wearing condition, in which a total of 84 times simulation was conducted. Then an artificial neural network is adopted to construct relevance between head and chest injuries and the injury risk factors; 37 accident cases with Event Data Recorder data and information on occupant injury were collected to validate the model accuracy through receiver operating characteristic analysis. The results showed that delta-v, seatbelt wearing condition, and airbag deployment time were important factors in the occupant's head and chest injuries. When delta-v increased, the occupant had significantly higher level of severe injury on the head and chest; there is a significant difference of Head Injury Criterion and Combined Thoracic Index whether the occupant wore seatbelt. When the airbag deployment time was less than 20 ms, the severity of head and chest injuries did not significantly vary with the increase of deployment time. However, when the deployment time exceeded 20 ms, the severity of head and chest injuries significantly increased with increase in deployment time. The validation result of the algorithm showed that area under the curve = 0.747, p < 0.05, indicating a medium level of accuracy, nearly to previous model. The computer simulation and artificial neural network have a great potential for developing injury risk estimation algorithms suitable for Advanced Automatic Crash Notification applications, which could assist in medical decision-making and medical care.

823 Airbag Burns: An Unnecessary Consequence of Motor Vehicle Safety

Abstract Introduction Over 7,500 Americans are injured by motor vehicle crashes every day and air bags save an estimated 2,790 lives per year.6,7 All vehicles are mandated to have airbags installed. The ubiquity of airbags has shown a surge in airbag related injuries including abrasions, contusions, lacerations, burns, fractures, and retinal detachment.1,3 Methods A retrospective review of all patients evaluated by the burn service was performed from 5/1/2015-4/30/2019. Inclusion criteria was patients of all ages with burn injuries resulting from airbag deployment. Demographic data and burn characteristics were reviewed. Results A total of seventeen patients met inclusion criteria: 82.4% female, 17.6% male. The average age was 40.4 years. No patients required hospitalization for their burn care. Etiology of the burn was often not clinically distinguishable; six patients were categorized as chemical burns and three from thermal injury. The remaining eight patients had unspecified etiology. Fifteen patients had second degree and two had third degree burns. The average TBSA for all patients was 0.45%. Burn location: ten hand or wrist; six arm, two chest, one neck, and anterior thigh burn. Eight patients suffered burns to more than one site. All patients were able to heal from their burns with wound care; no patients required surgical intervention. The average time to re-epithelialization was 11 days. Conclusions There is no question about the efficacy of airbags in preventing death and serious injury. However, the current mechanism of airbag deployment is intrinsically hazardous to passengers as it releases hot gases and alkaline substance into the cabin. The clinical manifestation of the burn may not distinguish whether it was a chemical or thermal etiology, as seen in 47% of our patients. If there is a suspicion for burn resulting from an airbag, the wound should be copiously irrigated and treated as though there is alkali chemical contamination. The average wound size was small at 0.45% TBSA. Most wounds were determined to be second degree and all were able to heal without surgical intervention. The most common area burned was the hands or upper extremity (88%). Airbag related burns should not be minimized as they cause pain, scarring, and a financial and time burden to the patient. Applicability of Research to Practice It is important to recognize and properly treat burns related to airbag deployment. If etiology of the burn is in question, the wound should be irrigated copiously as it may be caused by chemical contamination.

Injuries, death and vehicle airbag deployment.

Airbags are impact-activated safety devices which deploy from the interior of vehicles to protect occupants from trauma during crashes. Although airbags effectively reduce the risk of death and injury, this it is not without issues. For example, high-impact unbelted rigid-barrier testing in the USA led to the adoption of powerful, large airbags that were associated with numerous airbag-related deaths and injuries. In contrast, European designs were tested and certified in conjunction with the use of three-point restraint systems, meaning that the airbags could be smaller with reduced ‘punch-out’ power. An overview is provided of the mechanism of action of airbags and the associated non-lethal and lethal injuries that may be sustained by vehicle occupants.

A Comprehensive Analysis for the Heterogeneous Effects on Driver Injury Severity in Single-Vehicle Passenger Car and SUV Rollover Crashes

In road traffic crashes, although rollover crashes account for a relatively low proportion, those result in a high fatality rate. The present study performed random parameters ordered logit models to examine risk factors as well as their heterogeneous effects on driver injury severity in single-vehicle passenger car and SUV rollover crashes. Crash data for the empirical analysis were extracted from Texas Crash Record Information System (CRIS) database during the year 2016. Model estimation results show that six variables (male drivers, drivers’ age, airbag deployment, failure to drive in single lane, speed limit, and rural area) were found to produce normally distributed parameters in passenger car model, while nine parameters (male drivers, safety belt use, airbag deployment, drug or alcohol use, failure to drive in single lane, improper evasive action, vehicle model year, friday, and rural area) in SUV model were found to be normally distributed. Several other factors with fixed parameters were found to be associated with driver injury severity in single-vehicle passenger car or SUV rollover crashes, most notably: ejection or partial ejection, turning left, intersection, August, adverse weather conditions, and night with light. These variables were significant in both models; most variables have stronger effects on nonincapacitating injury and serious injury outcomes in SUV than in passenger car rollover crashes. These findings provide a deep insight into causality nature and factor involved in driver injury severity in single-vehicle passenger car and SUV rollover crashes and are also helpful for transport agencies to determine appropriate countermeasures aimed at mitigating injuries sustained by drivers in single-vehicle rollover crashes.

Factors affecting injury severity of single-vehicle rollover crashes in the United States

Objective: This study investigated the confounding effects of factors on injury outcomes for all occupants in fatal single-vehicle crashes that involved a rollover event.Method: A generalized ordered logit model was used to investigate the role of roadway attributes, environmental factors, driver characteristics, and vehicle features in injury severity outcomes for occupants. Five years of single-vehicle rollover crash data for the United States were studied.Results: Results showed that the likelihood of serious and fatal injuries increases in rollover crashes with partial or complete ejection of the occupant, no seat belt use, speeding, higher posted speed limits, roadside and median rollovers, undulating terrain, blacktop road surface, and rural roads. We also found that evening, weekdays, previous driver crash, careless or inattentive driving, driver–passenger engagement, aggressive driving, and vehicle type affect injury severity. The deployment of airbags was associated with fewer serious and fatal injuries. Regional differences were found for injury severity outcomes in rollover crashes.Conclusions: The study provides valuable insight for reducing injury severity in single-vehicle crashes where a rollover occurs. Several proven countermeasures may prevent rollovers or reduce injury severity. These strategies include increasing seatbelt use, posting lower speed limits and installing speed enforcement cameras in high-risk areas, flattening roadside embankments, and promoting in-vehicle stability enhancement systems such as electronic stability control and rollover-activated side curtain airbags.

Studying on the design and simulation of collision protection system between vehicle and pedestrian

Pedestrian protection technology has become the most important issue in the field of vehicle safety. The design and simulation method of pedestrian protection system for vehicles is studied based on the Teoriya Resheniya Izobreatatelskih Zadatch theory in this article. The optimal solution of a new type of all-around airbag system mounted to the front of vehicles is presented after performing some Teoriya Resheniya Izobreatatelskih Zadatch analysis tools, such as the component analysis, causal analysis, resource analysis, and contradiction analysis. The digital modeling is carried out on the airbag deployments by SolidWorks, and the simulation analysis is performed on the collision between vehicle and pedestrian head by HyperWorks and LS-DYNA. The results show that the vehicle equipped with the front-end all-around airbag than without can play a better role in pedestrian head protection during the collision, making the maximum value of head injury criterion decrease by 66.7%, effectively reducing the collision damage and verifying the feasibility of the solution.

Airbag deployment induced paediatric cervical injury following a car accident

A 12-year-old girl was involved in a 50 km/h motor vehicle accident that resulted in the deployment of both airbags. She was a front seat passenger well restrained by a three-point seatbelt. The driver (his father) was uninjured but the patient complained of a stiff and painful neck. On arrival in the emergency room, she was alert and hemodynamically stable. Physical examination showed swelling and excoriation of the skin over the anterior cervical area and mandibular region (A). Neurological examination results were normal except for torticollis and neck pain. Cervical spine radiography showed no abnormality except the loss of cervical lordosis. She was admitted for observation and was discharged ten hours later with a cervical collar and symptomatic drugs. At 15-day follow-up visit, the patient had no neck pain, and the neurological examination finding was normal. Airbags drastically reduce both morbidity and mortality from crashes, but a wide range of injuries has been reported as a result of direct contact of hot gas with facial skin and energy transmitted directly from the airbag system to the child´s head and neck. This device may cause ocular and facial injuries, abdomen and chest trauma, upper extremity injuries, and cervical spine lesions especially in pediatric populations. All children below 12 years of age or less than 40 kg of weight must not occupy the front seat passenger. Airbags may induce injuries that vary from minor to fatalities whatever the impact velocities. Practitioners should be aware about lesions induced by airbag deployment.