Background Older occupants have high fatality risk in crashes: for each year of increasing age, the probability of death, given the same physical insult, increases by several percent. NHTSA evaluations found that some safety devices may be less effective for older occupants, such as safety belts (especially in the back seat) and perhaps the early frontal air bags. These considerations suggest comprehensive review of older occupants' vulnerability to injury and of the adequacy of current vehicle interiors and safety devices for protecting older occupants.

ObjectiveCompare the injury sources, types and severities of older and younger occupants in various types of crashes, and identify situations where older occupants are especially vulnerable. Estimate the effectiveness of various safety devices as a function of the occupant's age.

Proposed Approach Statistical analyses of NASS data can be used to compare the injury sources and patterns of younger and older occupants, by crash type. Effectiveness analyses for specific safety technologies can be repeated, with the same methods and data as earlier NHTSA evaluations, expanding the data sets if necessary to permit statistically meaningful separate estimates for various occupant age groups. The effort is likely to require 2 years.