Abstract
Impacts to the vehicle interior are the most frequent source of occupant injury in highway accidents and generate the largest segment of the resulting total harm as calculated by the NHTSA accordingly, improving the injury- mitigating properties of interior components along with the structural integrity of vehicles has significant potential for providing important safety benefits to occupants of crash- involved vehicles.This paper reviews the relative contribution of various occupant- vehicle contacts to total harm and offers some insight into the benefits that might be realized through component improvements.