Occupant Restraint and Safety systems
Motor vehicles have never been safer than they are today, but stepping into a car is still one of the most dangerous things a person can do. Luckily, seat belts save lives every day. Buckling up can reduce the risk of passengers colliding with each other or the vehicle’s interior during a crash, and are critical in preventing occupants from being ejected during a severe collision. In addition, all secondary restraint systems within motor vehicles rely on the correct use of seat belts. In the event of a severe collision, understanding how the occupants interacted with the vehicle helps determine what happened and whether things could have turned out differently.
Given how much the use of vehicle safety systems can change the outcome of a collision, the central question during these types of investigations is whether the aftermath of the accident would have been different if the passenger(s) had been restrained. The nature of the injuries sustained by the occupants can sometimes reveal a lot about where the occupant was positioned in the vehicle and whether they were restrained.
When conducting a biomechanical analysis of a collision, CEP’s engineers can glean lots of information regarding seatbelt use by looking at the vehicles, downloading event data from the recorders, and analyzing the resulting injuries.