Performance of front airbags in collisions: Safety and problem areas - Experience from accident research

This study is based on 249 real-life accidents involving Vehicles equipped with airbags. The protective effect of the front airbag as a supplementary restraint system to the three-point belt has been indisputably confirmed as far as the driver is concerned and has been demonstrated in particular in relatively serious accidents. As far as the belted front seat passenger is concerned, on the other hand, the accident material showed that any additional protection afforded by the airbag was hardly statistically significant, if at all although the airbag did provide additional protection in a few individual cases. The use of airbags has changed known injury patterns for belted drivers. The airbag reduces in particular serious/critical injuries to the head and trunk, so that leg injuries tend to predominate the picture of driver injuries. A direct comparison of the severity of the injuries suffered by front occupants wearing seat belts shows that the front seat passenger more often sustains serious to fatal injuries than does the driver; this can be explained by the fact that the front seat passenger is often seated incorrectly ie. "out of position". In a few specific cases, serious or even fatal injuries have been sustained due to an inappropriate seating position. An analysis of the frequency with which the front seat passenger's airbag has deployed reveals that airbag activation was totally unnecessary in 42% of all cases, since there was no one in the passenger seat at ail. When extrapolated, the annual compensation for such accidents currently amounts to 20 million Deutsche marks. Moreover, unnecessary repairs amounting to an additional 90 million Deutsche marks are caused by unnecessary airbag activation in low speed crashes. Furthermore, injuries such as abrasions and burns can be inflicted by the airbag, injuries that would not otherwise occur had the airbag not been activated The activation threshold should therefore be around 25 to 30 km/h in future automobiles. The airbag release characteristics should be uncompromisingly optimized for occupants wearing seat belts.