This investigation addresses and evaluates: (1) belted drivers in frontal crashes; (2) crashes divided into low, medium, and high severity; (3) air-bag-equipped passenger vehicles separated into either model years 1985 - 1997 (with airbags) or model years 1998 - 2008; (4) rate of Harm as a function of crash severity and vehicle model year; and (5) injury patterns associated with injured body regions and the involved physical components, by vehicle model year.
Comparisons are made between the injury patterns related to drivers seated in vehicles manufactured before 1998 and those manufactured 1998 or later. The purpose of this comparative analysis is to establish how driver injury patterns may have changed as a result of the introduction of more recent safety belt technology, advanced airbags, or structural changes. More recent years of NASS/CDS have meant that additional 1998+ model year vehicles were available for analysis, and there were almost equal number of frontal crashes involving pre-1998 and 1998+ model year vehicles.
This investigation is based on the analysis of real-world crash data obtained from the National Automotive Sampling System / Crashworthiness Data System (NASS/CDS) between the years 1993-2008.