TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2008//
TI  - Using head-on collisions to compare risk of driver death by frontal air bag generation: a matched-pair cohort study
JO  - American journal of epidemiology
A1  - Braver, Elisa R.
A1  - Kufera, Joseph A.
A1  - Alexander, Melvin T.
A1  - Scerbo, Marge
A1  - Volpini, Karen D.
A1  - Lloyd, Joseph P.
SP  - 546
EP  - 552
VL  - 167
IS  - 5
N2  - 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>
LA  - en
SN  - 0002-9262
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/aje/kwm336
ID  - ref1
ER  -