Should airbags be deactivated for wheelchair-seated drivers?
Jingwen HuNichole OrtonMiriam A ManaryKyle BoyleLawrence W SchneiderPublished in: Traffic injury prevention (2020)
This is the first study using sled tests and computational simulations to investigate the effects of airbag deployment on injury risks of wheelchair-seated drivers. Overall, the results showed little basis for concern that the energy of deploying a driver airbag in today's vehicles will cause serious-to-fatal injuries to drivers seated in wheelchairs. The results of this study therefore support the idea that driver airbags generally offer tangible safety benefits for a wide range of wheelchair-seated drivers in frontal crashes.