As a supplement to officially published goverment accident statistics, Daimler-Benz AG, has been systematically investigating accidents since 1969 involving injured occupants in Mercedes-Benz cars. By analyzing the frequency distribution of injuries relative to the vehicle interior component being contacted, key areas for improvement of occupant protection can be addressed. Concurrent to the well proven effectiveness of properly worn seat belts in general, changes in the frequency distribution for three generations of vehicles have been observed to be highly influenced by increases in belt usage. The frequency of occupant contact the so-called "second impact" decreased by an average of 57%. The greatest reduction, nearly 70%, was observed for steering wheel contacts. Unbelted rear-seat occupants caused 22% of the belt specific injuries to front-seat occupants through belt overloading. Most of the serious belt-specific injuries are sternum and/or rib fractures with minor contusions of internal organs. Further reduction in the number of severe ankle fractures occurring mainly in frontal-offset-collisions continues to be high priority in the design of Mercedes-Benz passenger cars. A high reduction in the injury risk for frontal impacts has resulted in a shifting of injuries more biased toward side impact collisions. Improvements to side impact protection through controlling the kinematics of the occupant via structural and padding optimization are under discussion. Reliable injury criteria and side impact test dummies will be necessary in order to achieve these improvements. For the covering abstract of the conference, see IRRD 837684.
Samenvatting