title: Will the light truck bumper height-matching standard reduce deaths in cars?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  In a collision between a car and a sport utility vehicle (SUV) or pickup truck, car occupants are more likely to be killed than if they crashed with another car. Some of the excess risk may be due to the propensity of SUVs and pickups with high bumpers to override the lower bumpers in cars. To reduce this incompatibility, particularly in head-on collisions, in 2003 automobile manufacturers voluntarily established a bumper height-matching standard for pickups and SUVs.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To assess whether height-matching bumpers in pickups and SUVs were associated with the risk of death in either car occupants or pickup and SUV occupants.
  
  
  METHODS
  Case-control study of collisions between one car and one SUV or pickup in the US during 2000-2008, in which the SUV or pickup was model year 2000-2006. Cases were all decedents in fatal crashes; one control was selected from each crash in a national probability sample of crashes.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Occupants of cars that crashed with SUVs or pickups with height-matching bumpers may be at slightly reduced risk of death compared to those that crashed with other SUVs or pickups (adjusted odds ratio: 0.83 (95% confidence interval 0.61-1.13)). There was no evidence of a reduction in risk in head-on crashes (1.09 (0.66-1.79)). In crashes in which the SUV or pickup struck the car on the side, height-matched bumpers were associated with a reduced risk of death (0.68 (0.48-0.97)). Occupants of SUVs and pickups with height-matching bumpers may also be at slightly reduced risk of death (0.91 (0.64-1.28)).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Height-matching bumpers were associated with a reduced risk of death among car occupants in crashes in which SUVs or pickups struck cars in the side, but there was little evidence of an effect in head-on crashes. The new bumper height-matching standard may not achieve its primary goal of reducing deaths in head-on crashes, but may modestly reduce overall deaths in crashes between cars and SUVs or pickups because of unanticipated benefits to car occupants in side crashes, and a possible beneficial effect to SUV and pickup occupants.
authors.affiliation: Washington State Department of Health, PO Box 47812, Olympia, WA 98504-7812, USA. eric.ossiander@doh.wa.gov
authors.forename: Eric M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Ossiander
authors.forename: Thomas D
authors.initials: TD
authors.lastname: Koepsell
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: McKnight
mesh_terms: D000063:Accidents, Traffic / Q000401:mortality*; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001336:Automobiles; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003257:Consumer Product Safety / Q000592:standards*; D016208:Databases, Factual; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018986:Motor Vehicles / Q000592:standards*; D016017:Odds Ratio; D012306:Risk; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult