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At least 160 reports and documents have been written on rear impact crashes and occupant protection since 1964. Reviewing automotive crash safety research has identified the importance of reducing relative motion between the head, neck, and torso. Although rear impact accidents produce relatively few severe injuries, National Automotive Sampling System (NASS) Crashworthiness Data System (CDS) data base analysis has determined that rear impact accidents are second only to frontal impacts in terms of cost to society.

An extensive study was conducted studying the optimization of seat belt and airbag systems for simultaneous use during an accident. It is an objective of this study to develop an understanding of restraint system interaction and the compromises required for the individual systems to optimize the total response. The study entailed over one hundred full scale dynamic tests controlling seat belt and airbag attributes carefully and varying these attributes methodically. The study shows that significant reductions in occupant injury criteria are possible by tuning the seat belt characteristics predominantly to approximate an ideal belted restraint system. These so called “Constant Force Restraint Systems” can be further expanded to include new levels of pretensioner performance thereby allowing significant injury criteria reduction without increased head or chest excursions.