Posterior Rib Fractures from Side Airbag Deployment
The deployment of a seat mounted side air bag may contact the posterior and lateral side of the thorax. This contact can result in rib fractures in vulnerable occupants, such as the elderly or osteoporitic subjects, even in low speed collisions. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has investigated a case through their Special Crash Investigation program that illustrates this phenomenon. The case involved a low speed side impact in which the seat mounted side air bag deployed. The occupant sustained fractures of the 8th, 9th, and 10th ribs on the posterior and lateral side. In order to quantify this interaction, research is being performed with instrumented dummies and human cadavers.
Virginia Tech / Wake Forest University Center for Injury Biomechanics