Abdominal Injury with Airbag Deployment for Belted Drivers in Frontal Crashes

This article explores the risk of moderate or serious abdominal injury for seat-belted drivers in frontal crashes. The authors note that this risk is higher for belted drivers in frontal crashes with a deployed airbag than for belted drivers not exposed to a deployed airbag. They report on their analysis of roughly 13,000 belted front seat occupants in frontal crashes from National Automotive Sampling System / Crashworthiness Data System (NASS/CDS), case years 1993-2007, with and without airbag deployment. There were 2.14 times greater odds of Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS)2+ abdominal injury and 3.48 times greater odds of AIS3+ abdominal injury when a belted driver was exposed to a deployed airbag as compared to belted drivers not exposed to a deployed airbag. The liver and spleen were not found to have statistically significant higher odds of injury with airbag deployment. The authors conclude by hypothesizing that an increase in abdominal injury potential may be related to a change in occupant kinematics as a result of the occupant engaging the deployed airbag, consequently forcing the occupant to submarine under the lap belt. Submarining results in increased pelvic excursion and a greater chance of the lower extremities contacting the knee bolster.