U of Michigan CIREN Side Impact Field Crashes and Injury Patterns 2010-01-1157

Side impact field crashes from the University of Michigan Crash Injury Research and Engineering Network (UM CIREN) database were studied in detail. These cases involved seriously injured occupants that spanned 1997 - 2006 model year vehicles. Specific injury risks are not presented because the database used was populated only with occupants requiring treatment at a Level 1 Trauma Center.

This study analyzes side impact collisions for AIS ≥ 3 injury patterns in crash configuration, injury contact locations, gender and by age. Field crashes were also categorized into those that represent existing standard side impact laboratory test methods.

Over half of the cases were identified as collisions into the passenger compartment with occupants seated on the near side of the vehicle closest to the impact, which is consistent with current standard laboratory tests. The next two largest categories involved either far-side occupants or impacts primarily centered onto the engine compartment. The most commonly injured body regions in the above categories were the head, thorax and lower extremity. Females had the highest proportion of pelvic injuries. While bone density decreases with age, particularly for females after child bearing age, pelvic fractures from side impacts treated at University Hospital involved predominately younger women (16 - 45 years old). Pelvic anatomical measurements obtained from radiological films were analyzed to identify dimensional differences between the genders and by age, which may affect injury outcome.