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The objective of this analysis is to evaluate the effectiveness of restraints in preventing injury-producing contacts of specific body regions, such as the head or chest, with specific interior components. In order to make comparisons by restraint use, an injury rate is calculated as the number of injury-producing contacts per hundred involved occupants. Data, including the Occupant Injury Classification (OIC), are from the 1988-92 National Accident Sampling System (NASS) Crashworthiness Data System (CDS). The analysis presented is limited to passenger vehicle drivers in towaway, frontal impacts. Injury-producing contact rates are compared for four restraint configurations: unrestrained, three-point belted, driver airbag alone, and driver airbag plus three-point belt. For each restraint configuration, contact rates are compared by three categories of injury severity, AIS 1, AIS 2, and AIS 3-6, body region injured, and contact area producing the injury.

The relationship between crash severity and injury level is illustrated using the Restraint System Evaluation Study (RSES) data and Texas police-reported data. The RSES data are used to demonstrate that the probability of an injury (or fatality) is a function of both (a) the risk of injury, given a set of crash factors, and (b) crash exposure, or the chance of those factors occurring. The Texas data are used to demonstrate that crash exposure can change with time. Changes in crash exposure can alter the distribution of injuries (or fatalities) independently of motor vehicle standards or design. Texas and CPIR data are used to demonstrate that the risk of fatality is associated with many crash factors other than the traditional speed-related measures.