@article{ref1,
title="Using head-on collisions to compare risk of driver death by frontal air bag generation: a matched-pair cohort study",
journal="American journal of epidemiology",
year="2008",
author="Braver, Elisa R. and Kufera, Joseph A. and Alexander, Melvin T. and Scerbo, Marge and Volpini, Karen D. and Lloyd, Joseph P.",
volume="167",
number="5",
pages="546-552",
abstract="US air bag regulations were changed in 1997 to allow tests of unbelted male dummies in vehicles mounted and accelerated on sleds, resulting in longer crash pulses than rigid-barrier crashes. This change facilitated depowering of frontal air bags and was intended to reduce air bag-induced deaths. Controversy ensued as to whether sled-certified air bags could increase adult fatality risk. A matched-pair cohort study of two-vehicle, head-on, fatal collisions between drivers involving first-generation versus sled-certified air bags during 1998-2005 was conducted by using Fatality Analysis Reporting System data. Sled certification was ascertained from public information and a survey of automakers. Conditional Poisson regression for matched-pair cohorts was used to estimate risk ratios adjusted for age, seat belt status, vehicle type, passenger car size, and model year for driver deaths in vehicles with sled-certified air bags versus first-generation air bags. For all passenger-vehicle pairs, the adjusted risk ratio was 0.87 (95% confidence interval: 0.77, 0.98). In head-on collisions involving only passenger cars, the adjusted risk ratio was 1.04 (95% confidence interval: 0.85, 1.29). Increased fatality risk for drivers with sled-certified air bags was not observed. A borderline significant interaction between vehicle type and air bag generation suggested that sled-certified air bags may have reduced the risk of dying in head-on collisions among drivers of pickup trucks.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0002-9262",
doi="10.1093/aje/kwm336",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/aje/kwm336"
}