Citation

Streff FM. Proc. IRCOBI 1994; 22: 1-10.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1994, International Research Council on Biomechanics of Injury)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The research question addressed in this paper is whether or not occupant death, injury, and ejection outcomes differ between vehicles equipped with 3-point manual belts versus 2-point-motorized-shoulder, manual lap (motorized/manual) belt systems. Census crash data sets for the states of Washington and Texas, and the Fatal Accident Reporting System (FARS) were subset to provide data on front-outboard occupants of Ford Escorts involved in crashes in calendar years 1981-1991. Logistic regression analyses showed that occupants of vehicles equipped with the motorized/manual system experienced 11.7% to 26.4% fewer K-A level injuries than occupants of vehicles equipped with the 3-point system. Similar analyses of FARS data showed lower ejection rates for occupants of vehicles with the motorized/manual system in both rollover and nonrollover crashes. The installation of the motorized/manual system provided a substantial safety benefit over the manual 3-point system in the time periods examined.