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This paper describes a National Automotive Sampling System (NASS) case in which a parked 1958 Chevrolet Bel Air was rear-ended by a 1991 Dodge Grand Caravan whose unbelted driver sustained fatal chest injuries despite the presence of an airbag. This particular case was chosen because different reviewers of the information from the crash investigation have proposed conflicting conclusions about the role of the airbag in the fatal injuries. The NASS investigators and others concluded that the driver bottomed out the airbag resulting in fatal chest injuries. Insurance Institute for Highway Safety researchers concluded that the driver either was out of position due to late firing of the airbag or was slumped over the wheel due to a high blood alcohol concentration; in either case they attributed the fatal injuries to airbag inflation forces. Thus, in one scenario the airbag had insufficient power, and in the others it had too much power.

Excessive movement of steering columns in crashes can significantly degrade the performance of restraints, especially airbags. Although steering column movement does not appear to be a major problem in full-width rigid barrier crashes, it can be an issue in other frontal crash types. Results from 106 frontal offset crash tests at 64 km/h (40 mi/h) were used to characterize different patterns of steering column intrusion for different vehicle types. Large movements of the steering column often were associated with the dummy’s head striking the steering wheel through the airbag. Some of the tested models were redesigned over the course of this testing, and comparisons with older designs showed that improving the structural integrity of the occupant compartment could lead to less longitudinal movement of the steering column, but this was not necessarily the case for vertical column movements for some models in the data set.