Children as Front Seat Passengers Exposed to Airbag Deployments

From a review of 722 “airbag” crashes investigated by UMTRI personnel, there were 117 front seat passengers exposed to passenger side airbag deployments. The majority of these were 16 years of age or older (90 of the 117), with 20 passengers. 11 years of age or younger. Two cases, both fatalities, will not be described, for these crashes have been investigated also by NHTSA's Special Crash Investigation Program personnel. The crashes and injuries of these 18 passengers are described. In this group there were 13 children who had MAIS-1 level injuries and two sustained an MAIS-2 injury. One child was without injury, and two had MAIS-5 level injuries. The description of the crash and of the major injuries sustained are detailed in each of the case capsule descriptions. Most of the children were properly restrained.