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At the 1970 SAE International Automobile Safety Conference, the first experimental chest impact results from a new, continuing biomechanics research program were presented and compared with earlier studies performed elsewhere by one of the authors using a different technique. In this paper, additional work from the current program is documented. The general objective remains unchanged: To provide improved quantification of injury tolerance and thoracic mechanical response (force-time, deflection-time, and force-deflection relationships) for blunt sternal impact to the human cadaver. Fourteen additional unembalmed specimens of both sexes (ranging in age from 19-81 years, in weight from 117-180 lb, and in stature from 5 ft 1-1/2 in to 6 ft) have been exposed to midsternal, blunt impacts using a horizontal, elastic-cord propelled striker mass. Impact velocities were higher than those of the previous work, ranging from 14-32 mph.

Previous studies of human thoracic injury tolerance and mechanical response to blunt, midsternal, anteroposterior impact loading were reported by the authors at the 1970 SAE International Automobile Safety Conference and at the Fifteenth Stapp Car Crash Conference. The present paper documents additional studies from this continuing research program and provides an expansion and refinement of the data base established by the earlier work. Twenty-three additional unembalmed cadavers were tested using basically the same equipment and procedures reported previously, but for which new combinations of impactor mass and velocity were used in addition to supplementing other data already presented. Specifically, the 43 lb/11 mph (19.5 kg/4.9m/s) and 51 lb/16 mph (23.1 kg/7.2 m/s) conditions were intercrossed and data obtained at 43 lb/16 mph (19.5 kg/7.2 m/s) and 51 lb/11 mph (23.1 kg/4.9 m/s).

The Vehicular Trauma Research Group of the UCLA School of Medicine is currently conducting intensive studies of selected traffic accidents. Data is presented from an analysis of the first 150 traffic accidents studied. The role of vehicular design, mechanical failure and the performance of the new 1966 windshield in injury causation are discussed and illustrative examples are presented. The importance of detailed studies of traffic accidents is stressed as a method of yielding information not readily available by other methods of study. This approach is mandatory to evaluate new and pending vehicular design modifications and may be the only method of detecting and assessing the role of mechanical failure in traffic accident causation.

The research paper presented here is the result of an investigation by a medical-engineering team. The study applies techniques of experimental automobile-collision injury analysis to human injuries resulting from accidental collisions. The accident characteristics, observed injury patterns, and human kinematics are presented and analyzed. The study emphasizes injuries sustained from windshield glass. Present glass characteristics are discussed and suggestions based on the cases presented are made regarding future glass technology.

Cardio-thoracic injuries comprise a significant segment of the injuries sustained in automobile collisions. Because of the urgent need for additional information which can lead to prevention of these injuries, The Vehicle Trauma Research group at the UCLA School of Medicine has instituted a medical-engineering study of these injuries. The study has attempted to correlate pathophysiologic aspects of the injuries with the kinematics and biomechanics of the collision. Particular attention has been paid to the effects of restraining devices and the relationship of injuries of various wheel-column configurations including “energy absorbing” designs. Sixty-seven cases have been completely analyzed to date and are presented as a preliminary pilot study illustrating the value of this type of approach to auto collision injuries.