Human subject rear passenger symptom response to frontal car-to-car low-speed crash tests.

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this study was to determine whether healthy adult volunteers report symptoms following exposure to low-speed frontal crashes at low velocities.

METHODS

Nineteen medically screened, healthy, informed, and willing volunteers (17 men, 2 women; mean age, 37 years) were exposed to low-speed frontal crashes. All volunteers were seated in the rear seat position of the bullet vehicle. Closing velocities ranged from 4.1 to 8.3 mph (mean, 6.7 mph). For the bullet vehicle, the delta V ranged from 1.4 to 3.9 mph with a mean of 2.8 mph.

RESULTS

Eighty-eight percent of volunteers attributed symptoms of discomfort to their crash exposure. All reported symptoms were transient, and none required medical treatment. The mean duration was 1 day.

CONCLUSIONS

Even at relatively low speeds, there is no lower threshold below which it can be reasonably assumed that healthy and prepared volunteer rear seat passengers will not sustain some level of minor injury in a frontal collision. Although the reported mean delta V for injured persons in real-world frontal crashes has been reported to be as high as 8.1 mph, this does not offer any insight into the minimum threshold for such injuries among all at-risk vehicle occupants.