The Australian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) carries out crash testing to provide objective information to consumers on the safety performance of cars. The aims of this project were to estimate the costs of injuries predicted by ANCAP crash tests and to measure the difference between tests of the same vehicle model in different years, and between groups of vehicles. A database of injury costs by body region and injury severity level was developed using insurance company claims data. The probability of injury at each injury severity level was estimated from measurements obtained from the Hybrid III dummies used in the tests. The costs of the predicted head, chest and upper and lower leg injury were summed using an allocation routine, for each of the driver and passenger, then summed again for the total injury cost for each vehicle. In models which were tested at least twice between 1992 to 1997, there was generally a substantial reduction in injury cost, usually, but not always, associated with the introduction of an airbag on the driver's side. Offset tests were associated with lower overall costs than frontal tests. Passenger injury costs were generally higher than driver costs. (A)
Abstract