Analysis shows a high rate of chest injuries among obese drivers in frontal crashes, indicating airbag and restraint system improvements are critical.
The drivers were typically alone, obese and older. Most vehicles were older; they typically moved left (75%) into an oncoming vehicle or off road hitting a tree or pole. The combination of collision severity and driver BMI pulled webbing from the load-limiting retractor (when equipped), compressed the airbag and deformed the steering wheel resulting in severe chest injuries (85.7%). The restraints allowed too much excursion into the steering system to protect the drivers. NHTSA's 90 km/h oblique OMDB test involves 4,516 ± 535 J of upper body energy and 57.6 ± 6.8 cm crush. It is not severe enough to bring about meaningful changes in vehicle structures or restraints. A 113 km/h OMDB impact has upper body energy consistent with the fatal crashes, but further testing is needed to determine if a higher speed OMDB test is useful. A 72 km/h (45 mph) sled test with the 95th or 82 km/h (51 mph) with the 50th dummy would be useful because it has upper body kinetic energy to bring about meaningful design changes to reduce driver fatalities.
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David C. Viano (2025) studied this question.
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