Crashworthiness Safety Features in Rollover Crashes

Rollover crashes continue to be a serious and growing vehicle safety problem. Rollovers account for about 9% of passenger car crashes, and 26% of light truck crashes. Belt use in rollover crashes is about 51%, compared with 62% in planar crashes. Overall, 26.4% of the serious and fatal injuries to occupants exposed to crashes are in rollovers. Among this injured population 74.4% are unbelted. In light trucks, rollovers account for 47.4% of the serious or fatal injuries. Unbelted occupants suffer about 87% of the serious injuries and fatalities in light truck rollovers. The use of safety belts offers a dramatic reduction in injury rates for rollover crashes. For belted occupants of pickup trucks and utility vehicles in rollover crashes, the injury rates are about the same as for belted occupants of passenger cars in planar crashes. Improvementsts in safety belts offer large opportunities in safety. Approximately 52% of the harm to the restrained population may be addressed by further reductions in the excursion of the body during rollover. For the unbelted population, ejection prevention devices such as the inflatable head protection systems can address about 39% of the injury harm. For the restrained population, inflatable head protection systems will address a large portion of the injuries from contacts with the upper interior and exterior, which constitute about 23% of the Harm.