This paper presents the influence of airbags and pretensioners on reported neck injury risk in frontal impacts. Cars fitted with airbags in combination with pretensioners and cars without have been analysed. Since 1992, approximately 150,000 vehicles on the Swedish market have been equipped with crash pulse recorders to measure frontal impacts. The study includes results from 158 frontal impacts, where the crash pulses have been recorded using crash pulse recorders and the status of airbag deployments was known. Only reported neck injuries, often denoted as short-term disability to the neck, were considered. Injury risk functions for cars with and without airbags versus change of velocity and mean and peak accelerations were analysed. It was found that airbags in combination with seat belt pretensioners reduced the number of Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) 1 neck injuries in frontal impacts by 41% +/- 15.2%. In impacts at a change of velocity between 1 and 30 km/h, airbags and pretensioners reduced the neck injury risk by 59% +/- 18.6%.
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