In Europe there is less experience with air bag deployments in accidents than in the United States. Within the continuing in-depth investigations at the Medical University of Hannover 41 accidents with air bag deployments are documented. A detailed description of selected accidents is given in this study. The injuries of the occupants are described. The injury mechanisms caused by air bag deployment are discussed. The distribution of injury severities is compared for accidents with seat belt systems to those with the additional protection of air bags. The air bag fitted cases demonstrate that the protective effect was essentially based on using the seat belt. Especially for less load level some injuries occurred, for less load level some injuries occurred, called "air bag specific injuries". The results produce the supposition that in case of air bag-seat belt systems the current level of deployment is too low. The study proposes that the effectiveness of the seat belt system is used only up to delta-v 35 or 40 km/h. The air bag effectiveness should be aimed at above this delta-v level. The benefit of an air bag could be established with higher delta-v. The second part of the study quantified the benefit of an air bag for frontal and lateral collisions.
Abstract