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The progress of passive safety in car-to-car frontal collisions can be seen very clearly from the results of crash tests with old and new car models. The published federal accident statistics show an overall effort in passive safety, which is obvious by decreasing figures of killed and severely injured car occupants per year on German roads. But it is not possible to exclusively focus on car crashes with frontal collisions because the characteristics investigated in official statistics are not detailed enough. Therefore additional in-depth studies are necessary. The paper shows results of car-to-car and car-to-barrier frontal impacts for old and new car models. Some results of evaluations using the federal German statistics show historical trends in a more general view. Interdisciplinary real-life crash studies are focused on car-to-car frontal collisions.

The study reports on the results of frontal collisions with 16 cadavers and two Hybrid III dummies with impact velocities of 48 km/h to 55 km/h and a mean sled deceleration of 17 g; mounted to the sled was the front part of a passenger compartment. The cadavers were restrained in the driver position with either 3-point belts (6% and 16 % elongation) and/or air bag with knee bolster and one case was unrestrained. In most cases, both a 12-accelerometer thoracic array and 2 chest bands were employed. In some cases the acceleration at Th6 was measured. The cadavers were autopsied and the injury severity was rated according to the AIS 90. Maximum resultant Th1, Th6, and Th12 accelerations or sternum accelerations in x-direction ranged from 35g to 78g when using 3-point belts and produced injuries ranging from a few rib fractures to unstable chest wall (flail chest).