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Automotive Engineering Commons

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2002

Crash Safety Center Publications

Articles 1 - 1 of 1

Full-Text Articles in Automotive Engineering

An Under-Hand Steering Wheel Grasp Produces Significant Risk To The Upper Extremity During Airbag Deployment, Patrick J. Atkinson, Prem Hariharan, Shresta Mari-Gowda, Paul Telehowski, Sidney Martin, Jack Van Hoof, Cynthia Bir, Theresa Atkinson Sep 2002

An Under-Hand Steering Wheel Grasp Produces Significant Risk To The Upper Extremity During Airbag Deployment, Patrick J. Atkinson, Prem Hariharan, Shresta Mari-Gowda, Paul Telehowski, Sidney Martin, Jack Van Hoof, Cynthia Bir, Theresa Atkinson

Crash Safety Center Publications

Recent laboratory investigations suggest that a deploying airbag may fracture the forearm. These studies positioned the arm in an overhand grasp placing the forearm over the airbag module. However, there is little published data on how drivers grip the steering wheel and the general proximity of the upper extremity to the airbag module. The objective of the current study was to identify 'real world' upper extremity positions and to correlate these with accident and experimental data. A survey of the National Automotive Sampling System (NASS) for the years 1995-99 revealed an increase in the number of forearm fractures due to …