Vehicle damage from frontal impacts was classified and investigated to
gether with injuries sustained by belted front seat occupants. The sam
ple consisted of 1872 frontal crashes from the Midlands of England. An
alysis focused on impacts with broad objects that might conceivably be
simulated by a barrier test. Two asymmetrical front-end damage patter
ns were commonly identified, and these gave the greatest rates of non-
minor (Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) greater than or equal to 2) inju
ries in a range of Estimated Test Speeds from 35 to 52km/h which is th
e regime of current legislative crash tests. The most injurious type i
nvolved oblique damage caused by a substantial overlap of the struck o
bject. The other type was from a small overlap. Objects struck and pas
senger compartment intrusions were compared. Appropriate asymmetrical
and deformable barrier concepts were discussed. Other findings were co
nnected with the future role of full face barriers as used in current
tests such as Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 208. Fuller overla
ps (> 50%) tended to give more torso injuries rated greater than or eq
ual to AIS 2 caused by seat belt loads and, at high speeds (53-79km/h)
, caused the most fatalities. Full overlaps (100%) rarely resulted in
symmetrical intrusion into the passenger compartment.