During the period 1994 through 1996, an estimated 11.4 million vehicles each year were involved in police-reported traffic crashes. Approximately 93 percent of these were automobiles, pickup trucks, vans, and sport/utility vehicles, collectively referred to as passenger vehicles. Pickup trucks, vans, and utility vehicles are collectively referred to as light trucks. Most of these vehicles were not seriously damaged: only 26 percent of them were towed from the crash scene due to damage sustained in the crash. Approximately 47,000 passenger vehicles were involved in fatal crashes each year. This report focuses attention on occupants of those passenger vehicles that were towed from the crash scene. NHTSA's National Automotive Sampling System (NASS)/Crashworthiness Data System (CDS) collects detailed information on towed passenger vehicle crashes, employing trained, professional crash investigation teams. The in-depth data collection, scientific protocols, and professionalism of those involved make the NASS/CDS database a valuable resource to many in the traffic safety community. NASS data are used by government, industry, and the private sector to conduct research, identify injury patterns and mechanisms, provide a basis for regulatory decision making, and provide a means of evaluating the association between occupant injury and various crash-related characteristics. Some highlights of the report include: (i) Passenger cars comprise the largest segment (about 76 percent) of the passenger vehicles found in the NASS/CDS, and hence, in police-reported towaway crashes. In the report, passenger cars are treated separately from the remaining vehicles, which have been grouped together as light trucks; (ii) Occupancy patterns for towed crash-involved cars and light trucks were very similar: about two-thirds (about 67 percent) of the time, the only occupant of a towed crash-involved car or light truck was the driver. A front-seat passenger was present in the car about 21 percent of the time, with passengers in the second and further seats about 13 percent of the time. For occupants of light trucks, front-seat passengers were present 20 percent of the time, with passengers in the second and further seats about 17 percent of the time; (iii) One of the health-care consequences of motor vehicle crashes is the burden on emergency and health services. About 243,000 occupants of passenger vehicles were hospitalized each year as a result of police-reported traffic crashes. Another 1,321,100 occupants were transported to a medical facility and released, and 369,000 occupants were treated at the scene of the crash; (iv) Contact with the steering assembly accounted for about 10 percent of the minor injuries (AIS 1-2) but about 15 percent of the serious-maximum (AIS 3+) injuries. A similar pattern was observed for contact with the interior side surface, comprising 7 percent of the minor injuries and 15 percent of serious and greater injuries; (v) Approximately 288,000 injuries to occupants resulted from contacting an air bag. Around 97 percent were minor injuries, and about 1 percent were serious injuries; (vi) About 4 percent of the towed cars in crashes rolled over, compared with 16 percent of the towed light trucks; (vii) Eight percent of car occupants in rollover crashes were ejected; the remaining crash types exhibited ejection rates in the range of 0.1 to 1.5 percent; (viii) The belt use rate for all occupants of passenger vehicles was about 75 percent; (ix) The alcohol involvement rate for drivers of both passenger cars and light trucks in traffic crashes is highest for the age group 25-34 years; and (x) The alcohol involvement rate for all drivers of light trucks in traffic crashes is almost twice that for drivers of passenger cars. (A)
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