19 cases of passenger airbag deployments in a frontal crash in which a passenger was present have been investigated. These investigations were conducted as part of an on-going study of vehicle crash performance and occupant injury currently on-going at the Monash University Accident Research Centre (MUARC). Preliminary results suggest that the US experience of fatalities caused by interaction of the passenger with the deploying airbag is not shared in Australia. This is probably because the seat-belt use in the study was high (18/19 or 95%). These preliminary results support the view that such airbags should be used as supplementary restraint systems. Further studies are planned to monitor the performance of passenger-airbags and to provide more in-depth analyses when more data are available. (A)
Samenvatting