@article{ref1,
title="Driver and front seat passenger fatalities associated with air bag deployment. part 1: a Canadian study",
journal="Journal of forensic sciences",
year="2002",
author="Shkrum, M. J. and McClafferty, K. J. and Nowak, E. S. and German, A.",
volume="47",
number="5",
pages="1028-1034",
abstract="Real world motor vehicle collision research of injuries due to deployment of &quot;first-generation&quot; air bags has been conducted by Transport Canada since 1993. Fifty-three fatal crashes (36 frontal impacts; 17 side collisions) involving 48 drivers and 10 right front passengers were reviewed. In the Canadian data, air bag deployment in five of nine low severity frontal crashes (delta-V (deltaV) < 25 km/h or 15 mph) was linked to five deaths, four of whom were autopsied (four adults with craniocervical (basal skull and C2 fracture with brainstem avulsion; &quot;closed head injury&quot;--no autopsy) or chest trauma (aortic or pulmonary artery tears); one child with atlanto-occipital dislocation). An occupant who is close (&quot;out-of-position&quot;) to the air bag at the time of deployment is at risk for injury. In 27 high severity frontal impacts, unusual (e.g., pulmonary &quot;blast&quot; hemorrhage in one autopsied case) or isolated potentially survivable injuries (e.g., clinically documented ruptured right atrium; probable flail chest observed during the autopsy on a decomposed body) localized to the head, neck or chest in three possibly out-of-position drivers pointed to the deployed air bag as a source of injury. In one of 17 side collisions an out-of-position driver sustained a radiographically confirmed C1-C2 dislocation in a minimally intruded vehicle.",
language="",
issn="0022-1198",
doi="",
url="http://dx.doi.org/"
}