Vehicle mismatch: injury patterns and severity

Light truck vehicles (LTV) are becoming more popular on US highways. This creates greater opportunity for collisions with passenger vehicles (PV). The mismatch in weight, stiffness, and height between LTV and PV has been surmised to result in increased fatalities among PV occupants when their vehicles collide with LTV. We reviewed cases of vehicle mismatch collisions in the Seattle Crash Injury Research and Engineering Network (CIREN) database to establish patterns and source of injury. Of the first 200 Seattle CIREN cases reviewed, 32 collisions with 41 occupant cases were found to involve LTV versus PV. The cases were reviewed by type of collision and vehicle of injured occupant: side impact of PV with LTV, front impact of PV with LTV, and front impact of LTV with PV. For each type of crash, injury patterns and mechanisms were identified. For side impact to PV, head and upper thorax injuries were frequently encountered due to LTV bumper frame contact above the PV side door reinforcement. For frontal impact to PV, severe multiple extremity fractures along with some head and chest injuries were caused by intrusion of the instrument panel and steering column due to bumper frame override of the LTV. Underriding of the PV when colliding with the LTV resulted in severe lower extremity fractures of the LTV occupant due to intrusion of the toe pan into the vehicle compartment of the LTV. The injuries and the sources identified in this case series support the need for re-designing both LTV and PV to improve vehicle compatibility. Revising Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 214 to reinforce the entire door, consider adding side airbags, and re-engineering LTV bumpers and/or frame heights and PV front ends are possible ways to reduce these injuries and deaths by making the vehicles more compatible.