Physical Evidence of Airbag Performance in a High-Speed Frontal Crash

Abstract

Field data (NASS) analyses showed that 0.9 % of frontal airbags deployed in motor vehicle collisions sustained at least one type of damage. Crash investigators often need to determine whether a damaged airbag inflated in a timely manner to provide occupant protection during the crash. This study provided a comparison of physical evidence from the restraint system and the seat resulted from high-speed frontal impacts with and without airbag deployment. Evidence of an airbag deployment event was collected from a real-world vehicle crash, in which the airbag was found damaged at the scene. A sled test was conducted with an 80 km/h delta-V in an exemplar vehicle to demonstrate the occupant loading evidence on vehicle components when the airbag was absent in a crash of the same severity as the real-world crash. In the test, the load limiter was activated and provided webbing spool out until bottoming out, severe abrasions and markings occurred on the seatbelt webbing and the D-ring, and the seat bottom deformed downward. These occurrences were absent in the real-world crash, suggesting that the frontal airbag was inflated in a timely manner and absorbed occupant’s kinetic energy during the high speed frontal impact.