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The Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 571.201 discusses occupant protection with interior impacts of vehicles. Recent rule making by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has identified padding for potential injury reduction in vehicles. Head injury mitigation with padding on vehicular roll bars was evaluated. After market 2 to 2.5 cm thick padding and metal air gap padding reduced the head injury criterion (HIC) and angular acceleration compared to the stock foam roll bar padding. Studies were conducted with free falling Hybrid 50% male head form drops on the fore head and side of the head. Compared to the stock roll bar material, a nearly 90% reduction in HIC was observed at speeds up to 5.4 m/s. A concomitant 83% reduction in angular acceleration was also observed with the metal air gap padding. A 2 to 2.5 cm thick Simpson roll bar padding produced a 70 to 75% reduction in HIC and a 59 to 73% reduction in angular acceleration.

This paper describes the results of a 2 year study into the field accident performances of two basic designs of energy-absorbing steering assemblies. The two basic designs are the axial-collapse type of steering column used in conjunction with a shear capsule and the self-aligning energy-absorbing steering wheel mounted on a nonstroking column. The study identifies major injury causation factors for these two types of steering assemblies. The analysis was performed on 161 accident cases selected for unrestrained drivers in frontal accidents in two vehicle types.

The injury reducing effectiveness of child safety seats in frontal crashes was evaluated, based on 36 frontal or oblique sled tests run with two or more GM three-year-old dummies in the simulated passenger compartment of a car. Unrestrained, correctly restrained and incorrectly restrained dummies were tested at the range of speeds where most nonminor injuries occur (15-35 mph). Accident data from NHTSA files were used to calibrate a relationship between the front-seat unrestrained dummies' HIC and unrestrained children's risk of serious head injuries; also between torso g's and the risk of serious torso injuries. These relationships were used to predict injury risk for the restrained children as a function of crash speed and to compare it to the risk for unrestrained children. The sled test analysis predicted that the 1984 mix of correctly and incorrectly used safety seats reduced serious injury risk by 40 percent relative to the unrestrained child, in frontal crashes.