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Epidemiology
Since 1998, the US Department of Transportation has required all passenger cars be equipped with frontal airbags (U.S. Department of Transportation 1999). Such legislation has led to a dramatic decrease in the number motor vehicle collision (MVC) fatalities and serious nonfatal injuries, with an estimated 28,000 lives saved as of January 2009 (U.S. Department of Transportation 2009). There are, however, reports on injuries resulting directly from airbag use, particularly among high-powered, first-generation airbags.
In 1997, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) began allowing vehicle manufacturers to install airbags with reduced inflation powers (“depowered” airbags) in an attempt to decrease the likelihood of airbag injury during an MVC. Airbag-related morbidity and mortality have further been reduced by the advent of advanced frontal airbags, which are now mandatory in all vehicles...
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References
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Harvey, V. (2015). Airbag Injuries. In: Papadakos, P.J., Gestring, M.L. (eds) Encyclopedia of Trauma Care. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-29613-0_535
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-29613-0_535
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