The Deadliest Side Impact Vehicle Crash
Most people think the greatest danger in a side-impact crash falls on the person sitting next to the door that is struck. But in many T-bone collisions, the far-side occupant, the person seated on the opposite side of the impact, can suffer catastrophic or fatal injuries as the body is thrown sideways across the vehicle. Even when wearing a seat belt, that occupant may roll out of the shoulder belt, strike the center console, dashboard, door frame, or another passenger, and sustain devastating injuries to the brain, chest, throat, and spine. Todd Tracy argues these are not random tragedies but foreseeable injury mechanisms tied to restraint systems that fail to control lateral motion. He also contends that better protection, including center airbags already used more broadly in Europe, could prevent many of these injuries.
When most people think of a T-bone collision, they picture the occupant seated next to the door that is crushed inward by a striking vehicle.
That occupant is known as the “near-side” occupant.
But there is another victim in many of these crashes who suffers death or life-changing injuries.
It is the person seated on the vehicle’s opposite side. Vehicle safety lawyer Todd Tracy calls this the “far-side” occupant.
In a far-side impact crash, the vehicle is struck on the side opposite where the injured person is seated.
Even when properly restrained with a seatbelt, that occupant can be violently thrown across the interior of the vehicle.
What Happens Inside the Vehicle
The following video from Tracy’s Crash Lab shows how instrumented crash test dummies are used to simulate human occupants.
As you can see, the body rolls out of the shoulder belt, slides laterally, and slams into the center console, dashboard, door frame, or even another passenger.
There is often nothing between the far-side occupant and the vehicle’s hard interior structures.
Their bodies are driven across the interior of the vehicle toward the center console or, worse, into the person seated next to them.
Horrific injuries to the brain, throat, and chest occurred because the manufacturer’s restraint system did not protect them as it should.
A Safety Gap Hidden in Plain Sight
Speaking from his Dallas Crash Lab, Tracy demonstrates what happens to people in a far-side impact.
Unlike frontal crashes, where airbags deploy from the steering wheel and dashboard, or near-side crashes, where side-curtain airbags and torso airbags provide cushioning between the occupant and the intruding door, far-side occupants are largely unprotected.
In comparison, vehicles sold in Europe use two very large center airbags.
The center airbags prevent “head knocking,” which can cause traumatic brain injury.
What Families Should Do After a Far-Side Impact Crash
After a serious side-impact crash, families often focus first on the passenger who was seated closest to the impact. That is understandable.
But in a far-side crash, the gravest injuries may involve the person seated on the opposite side of the vehicle.
For example, the driver may have been thrown sideways across the passenger compartment, rolled out of the shoulder belt, struck the center console, dashboard, door frame, or collided with another passenger.
Those forces can cause serious injuries to the brain, throat, chest, spine, and internal organs, even when the person was wearing a seat belt.
Todd Tracy advises families to act quickly and methodically, with the understanding that the crash investigation must go beyond the police report.
First, preserve the vehicle. Do not allow the insurance company, tow yard, repair shop, or salvage company to destroy it, sell it, move it without notice, or remove key components.
The vehicle is evidence. Seat belts, airbags, seat tracks, interior trim, crash data recorders, door structures, and the center console may all help determine whether the restraint system protected the occupants as it should have.
Second, document everything. Photograph the vehicle from every angle, including the interior, seat positions, deployed airbags, seat belts, buckles, shoulder belts, door damage, console damage, bloodless impact marks, broken trim, and any evidence showing where occupants moved inside the vehicle.
Families should also preserve photos of bruising, abrasions, swelling, and other injuries that show how the body moved during the crash.
Third, request and preserve medical records. Emergency room reports, trauma scans, surgical records, rehabilitation notes, and physician findings can help connect injuries to the crash forces.
In far-side impacts, injuries to the head, neck, throat, chest, ribs, spine, and internal organs may reveal that the occupant moved laterally in a way the restraint system failed to control.
Fourth, obtain the official records, but do not stop there. The police report, crash diagram, witness statements, 911 records, EMS reports, and photographs from law enforcement are important. But they may not answer the most important question: whether the vehicle itself failed to protect the people inside.
Fifth, ask vehicle safety lawyer Todd Tracy to analyze whether the crash was survivable. That is the question families should never be afraid to raise.
A far-side impact is not automatically an unavoidable tragedy.
If a properly belted person was thrown across the vehicle and suffered catastrophic injury, the investigation should examine whether better restraint design, center airbag protection, seat belt geometry, or other safety systems could have reduced or prevented the harm.
Todd Trach and his team of automotive engineers need to perform an autopsy on the vehicle before the evidence disappears.
In these cases, timing matters. Insurance companies typically want to offer a quick settlement so they can destroy the evidence about who caused the fatal or life-changing injuries.
A far-side impact crash should not be dismissed as just another T-bone collision.
When someone dies or suffers life-changing injuries, the investigation must look inside the vehicle and determine whether the people inside were protected or whether they were left vulnerable to a known and preventable danger.
How Center Airbags Can Help
The crash test video below from Tracy’s Crash Lab shows how the center air bag provides a cushion before the driver’s head can slam into the passenger’s head.
Unfortunately, most vehicles sold in America do not have center airbags.
Even among the limited number of vehicles that do offer a center-mounted airbag, those systems are often designed to deploy only in pure 90-degree side impacts.
It’s also referred to as a T-bone crash that strikes the side of the vehicle. But
If the crash angle varies, if the seats are not perfectly aligned, or if one seat is positioned forward or backward relative to the other, the system may not function as intended.
The following test from Todd Tracy’s Crash Lab uses instrumented crash test dummies to simulate the failure of center airbags in vehicles sold in the United States.
As you will see, the driver’s head misses the center airbag cushion and strikes the passenger.
A Preventable Pattern of Injury
In the United States, the far-side occupant in most vehicles remains vulnerable. In a broadside collision, even a properly belted driver or passenger can be transformed into a projectile within their own vehicle.
When the body rolls out of the shoulder belt and lateral movement is not restrained, the head becomes the leading point of impact. Brain injuries, cervical spine fractures, thoracic trauma, and internal organ damage frequently follow.
These are not freak accidents.
They are foreseeable injury mechanisms.
What the Crash Data Shows
Crash data and reconstruction studies from Tracy’s Crash Lab have long documented that far-side occupants can slip out of the shoulder belt and experience increased head impact velocities. The belt restrains forward motion but provides limited resistance to lateral excursion.
The result is a violent sideways launch across the passenger compartment.
In many cases, the interior console becomes a battering ram. If another occupant is present, the two bodies collide with compounded force.
The crash becomes a pinball machine of human-to-human impact inside a confined metal box.
The Industry’s Failure
The dangerous truth is that 98% of vehicles on American highways lack center airbags.
The vehicle industry has failed to protect its customers and should be held accountable in a court of law.
Find Out If You Have A Case Before It Is Too Late
If a crash similar to one pictured here left your family facing the death of a loved one or life-changing injuries with enormous medical bills, Todd Tracy can help determine whether it was preventable and who is responsible.
Todd will conduct a complimentary engineering analysis in his Dallas Crash Lab to determine if you have a crashworthiness case.
Contact: https://www.vehiclesafetyfirm.com/contact/
Phone: 214-324-9000
Crash Lab: 4701 Bengal St, Dallas, Texas 75235
FAQs
What is a far-side occupant?
A far-side occupant is the person seated on the side of the vehicle opposite the point of impact in a side collision. In a T-bone crash, that person can still suffer severe injury even though the door next to them is not the one struck.
How can someone wearing a seat belt still be badly hurt in a far-side crash?
The seat belt may restrain forward motion but provide limited resistance to lateral movement. That allows the occupant’s body to roll out of the shoulder belt and be thrown across the interior, where the head or chest can strike hard structures or another person.
What kinds of injuries are common in these crashes?
Serious injuries to the brain, throat, chest, cervical spine, and internal organs. Todd Tracy often describes the head as the primary point of impact when lateral motion is uncontrolled.
What is a center airbag, and why does it matter?
A center airbag is designed to deploy between front-seat occupants and help cushion sideways movement in a side-impact crash. The story says such airbags can prevent head-to-head contact, sometimes called head knocking, which can lead to traumatic brain injury.
Why are these injuries preventable?
These are foreseeable injury mechanisms, not freak accidents, because crash data and reconstruction studies have long documented the danger of far-side occupant movement.
Center airbags and better restraint performance are evidence that safer designs are possible.