Injuries to the aorta are among the more serious injuries that result
from vehicle impacts, and may often be fatal. This paper examined
the incidence of aortic injuries in the US and UK using real-world
crash data. The main outcome of interest was the level of risk
associated with each principal direction of force for drivers and front
seat passengers with respect to sustaining aortic injuries. The results
indicate that the risk of sustaining an injury to the aorta is greater for
near side crashes than for far side crashes. Further, it is apparent that
given a near side crash, the risk of an aortic injury is greater on the
left side of the body (and left side of the vehicle) than on the right. It
was also found that the delta-V of crashes where occupants sustained
an injury to the aorta was considerably higher than crashes where
occupants did not sustain aortic injuries. It was speculated that the
anatomical asymmetry of the thorax might play a role in the
differences seen in injury risk associated with different impact
directions. Limitations and further planned research are discussed
