This paper analysis field study accident data. The aim is to determine the effect of the steering wheel on head/face injuries to restrained drivers in frontal impact. Facial contusion and laceration was the most common injury for those drivers sustaining only minor injury to the head/face from the wheel. Of those sustaining more major injury, the head became the more important body region. When collision severity was considered, the likelihood and severity of head/face injuries from direct wheel contact was shown to increase with the Equivalent Test Speed. Those injuries were much more likely than not at speeds above 40 km/h. Wheel rearward and upward displacement and compromise of the head ride down envelope was also seen to in crease with collision severity. However, for speed changes up to 50 km/h only 2.3% of wheels showed residual displacement upward and/or rearward greater than 12 cm. The role of wheel intrusion into the head ride down envelope was shown to have an important bearing on the likelihood of head/face injury. For the same collision severity, substantially more restrained drivers sustained head/face injury under conditions of moderate and high compromise of that envelope than those experiencing negligible compromise.
Samenvatting