Driver and front seat passenger fatalities associated with air bag deployment. Part 2: A review of injury patterns and investigative issues.

Assessment of the role of air bag deployment in injury causation in a crash of any severity requires analysis of occupant, vehicle, and impact data. The potential injurious role of an air bag is independent of crash severity and is more obvious in minor collisions, particularly those involving "out-of-position" occupants. Factors such as occupant height and other constitutional and medical factors, intoxication, age, type, and proper use of other restraint systems, pre-impact braking and multiple impacts can contribute to an occupant being "out-of-position.

Driver and front seat passenger fatalities associated with air bag deployment. Part 1: A Canadian study.

Real world motor vehicle collision research of injuries due to deployment of "first-generation" air bags has been conducted by Transport Canada since 1993. Fifty-three fatal crashes (36 frontal impacts; 17 side collisions) involving 48 drivers and 10 right front passengers were reviewed. In the Canadian data, air bag deployment in five of nine low severity frontal crashes (delta-V (deltaV) < 25 km/h or 15 mph) was linked to five deaths, four of whom were autopsied (four adults with craniocervical (basal skull and C2 fracture with brainstem avulsion; "closed head injury"--no autopsy) or chest trauma (aortic or pulmonary artery tears); one child with atlanto-occipital dislocation).