Citation

Cooper JT, Balding LE, Jordan FB. J. Forensic Sci. 1998; 43(5): 1077-1081.

Affiliation

Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, State of Oklahoma, Oklahoma City 73117, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1998, American Society for Testing and Materials, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

9729830

Abstract

Airbag injuries have resulted in the deaths of several infants and small children, and such deaths are generally associated with rearward-facing infant seats or unrestrained children in front passenger seats of cars equipped with airbags. An airbag can also cause death in a small child wearing a shoulder/lap belt, however, as this case report illustrates. A two-year-old female was involved in a low-speed collision while riding in the front passenger seat of a dual-airbag-equipped automobile. Secondary impact with the airbag caused catastrophic occipitoatlantoaxial disarticulation with traumatic spinal cord separation, thermal injury and abrasions of the right forearm and distinctive patterned abrasions of the face. The possibility of airbag injury should be considered in all low-speed traffic fatalities, and the confirmatory injuries sought at postmortem examination.