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In the development of a crashworthy road transport system, guard-rails could play an important role in preventing frontal collisions on roads without separated lanes and in avoiding collisions with roadside objects. Crash pulses in crashes into guard rails may differ from e.g. car-to-car collisions, concerning the duration and mean acceleration. If the characteristics of crash pulses into guard-rails differ from those used in the design of vehicle interior restraint systems, it may influence the performance of these systems.. Collisions with soft guardrails, such as wire ropes, may often have pulse duration of 200 ms or more. The performance of e.g. airbag systems in collisions with such duration is rarely studied. This study presents the results of six crash tests, carried out with identical vehicles running into three types of guard rails at two different test speeds, 80 and 110 km/h, and at two different impact angles, 45° and 20° respectively.

AIS1 neck injuries are the most frequent disabling injuries among car occupants in road traffic accidents. Although neck injury is mostly regarded as resulting from rear end collisions, almost one third of all neck injuries occur in frontal impacts. Several studies have shown the effect of airbags on injury and fatality rates. However, studies of the effect of airbags on the risk of injuries to different body regions are rare. Airbags and seatbelt pretensioners may influence especially the risk of neck injuries. This paper presents influence of airbags and pretensioners on reported neck injury risk in frontal impacts. Cars fitted with airbags in combination with pretensioners and cars without have been analyzed. Since 1992, approximately 150,000 vehicles on the Swedish market have been equipped with crash pulse recorders to measuring frontal impacts.