Injury patterns in side pole crashes

Side impact pole/tree crashes can have devastating consequences. A series of 53 CIREN cases of narrow-object side impacts were analyzed. Twenty-seven of 53 had serious chest injury and 27 had serious head injury. Unilateral chest trauma led to the examination of residual crush pattern that often demonstrated oblique door intrusion into the occupant thorax space. It was hypothesized that unilateral chest trauma was caused by antero-lateral chest loading. This hypothesis was evaluated by conducting two (PMHS and ES2) vehicle side impact tests into a rigid pole. The PMHS test produced an oblique chest deformation pattern with injuries very similar to the real world trauma: unilateral rib fractures, spleen laceration, pelvic fracture, and a basilar skull fracture. Narrow-object side impacts are severe crash environments that can induce oblique chest loading and unique head trauma. Because the human may be more vulnerable in this type of crash scenario, dummy response and measurements, as well as a re-examination of side injury criteria may be necessary to design appropriate injury-mitigating safety devices.