The author, a member of the Blue Ribbon Panel for Evaluation of Depowered and Advanced Airbags, discusses research at the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute that helps address questions related to the performance of depowered airbags (1998 and newer model vehicles). The data consist of 318 pre-1998 model year vehicles and 249 1998 and newer model vehicles for which good estimates of crash severity using vehicle crush measurements are available and for which there were no other significant crash or rollover events that may have produced injuries to the occupants of the case vehicle. The case descriptions and analyses presented focus on drivers. The conclusion is that the presented data suggest that 1998 and later model-year vehicles are at least as effective as pre-1998 model-year vehicles in protecting the head, neck, chest, face, and abdomen of belted and unbelted occupants in moderate-to-severe frontal crashes.
Abstract