Eye Injuries from Airbags with Seamless Module Covers

Air bag deployment through a seamless module cover may release foam particles at high velocities that could result in eye injuries. Research has been performed in which particles, similar to those observed from air bag deployments, were impacted onto porcine eyes. A pneumatic cannon was designed to propel the foam disks at speeds representative of actual foam particle velocities as observed in prototype air bag deployments. Injury analysis was performed using three techniques: fluorescein dye to reveal corneal abrasions, ophthalmic ultrasound to determine lens displacements and retinal detachments, and necropsy to examine tissue damage. As seen in case reports of air bag induced eye injuries, corneal abrasions were the most recorded injuries in the porcine eye impact tests. An injury risk function was developed for the kinetic energy of the particles offers a design guide to minimize corneal abrasions, if the production of foam particles during air bag deployment is unavoidable.

REFERENCES:

Duma, S.M., Crandall, J.R., "Eye Injuries from Air Bags with Seamless Module Covers," Journal of Trauma, Vol. 48, No. 4, pp. 786-789, 2000.

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Virginia Tech / Wake Forest University Center for Injury Biomechanics