Characteristics of real world steering wheel contact injuries; an international investigation

摘要

The pattern of driver injuries from steering wheel contacts is characterized using international field crash investigation data. Predictably, the steering wheel has been among the most common contact areas for drivers. Nearly two thirds ofsteering wheel contacts are on the rim, most frequently with the face+head. Half the rim contacts are in 12 o'clock frontal impacts. Driver face-to-rim injury severity increases with crash severity and steering wheel rim deformation. Mathematicalsimulations illustrate that the face-to-rim contact speed can differ from the vehicle impact velocity and that contact speeds are typically lower for belted than for unbelted drivers.