The limitations of current seatbelts in Europe--some population considerations

Seatbelts are most likely to function as they were designed if the car occupants' survival space remains uncompromised during an impact. Crashed cars with negligible passenger compartment intrusion were used to study seatbelt effectiveness in that situation. Belted front seat occupants were investigated together with their front impacted vehicles. Current model seatbelts were seen to prevent many more forward contacts than those seen in a similar study 15 years ago. In the earlier study, head contacts occurred to 65% of drivers whereas the current sample contained 24%. The present study also found that thigh or knee contacts were common occurrences for drivers and front seat passengers, as were thoracic injuries caused by loads from the belt itself and neck injuries caused by deceleration. The results emphasize how real people, unlike crash test dummies, have varied characteristics that influence seatbelt performance.