Abstract

In 2019, 6,291 occupants of a passenger vehicle were fatally injured in a rollover crash accounting for 28% of all fatalities among passenger vehicle occupants [1]. Electronic Stability Control (ESC) is effective at preventing rollover crashes and has been shown to reduce first-event rollover crashes by 60% in passenger cars and by 74% in light trucks and vans (LTVs) [2]. This indicates that roughly one-third of first-event rollover crashes still occur. The development of a detailed injury model is therefore still important in predicting occupant injury from a rollover crash. Unlike planar crashes, a severity indicator, such as delta-v, does not exist in rollover crashes, making them difficult to characterize. As many factors contribute to injuries during a rollover, sometimes a seemingly severe rollover crash may result in only minor injuries. Ejection is a key contributor to occupant injury, although not every fatally injured occupant is ejected from the vehicle. The purpose of this study was to develop an ejection and injury prediction model for occupants in rollover crashes.

Full Paper

Riexinger LE, King SL, Sherony R, Hasegawa T, Gabler HC, “An Improved Occupant Injury Severity Model for Rollover Crashes to Account for Advances in Ejection Mitigation”, Proceedings of the 2022 International Research Council on Biomechanics of Injury Europe Conference, Short Communication, Porto, Portugal (September 2022).