December 22, 2010
Source: Audi of America
· Partnership with world-renowned Association for the Study of Internal Fixation (AO Foundation)
· Lessons learned to flow into development of safety system
Ingolstadt, The Accident Research Unit of AUDI AG is planning a cooperation in the area of medical accident analysis with the AO Foundation, a global association of orthopedic surgeons. The international association of doctors specializes in the field of internal fixation, i.e. the operative treatment of bone fractures and other bone injuries with implants, for example. The partnership with the AO Foundation will be very valuable for the development of safety systems in our models, says Dr. Miklos Kiss, a coordinator at the Audi Accident Research Unit.
The various disciplines represented in the Audi Accident Research Unit (AARU) conduct joint case reviews in which they thoroughly discuss every accident from the cause, to the course of events, to the consequences. The results are entered in encoded and anonymized form into the AARU database, making the results of the investigation available for additional evaluations, statistics, analyses and special queries.
Through its support for the AO Foundation, Audi gains access to valuable international research opportunities in partnership with specialists from the field of orthopedic surgery, says Kiss.
The Audi Accident Research Unit has been researching accidents for 12 years. Besides the technical side, the interdisciplinary team of experts also analyzes medical and psychological aspects.
The AARU is a research partnership between Regensburg University Hospital, the Bavarian Ministry of the Interior and Audi. The team of experts assembled by Audi investigates traffic accidents in order to understand the course of events surrounding the accident, to enhance general traffic safety and to apply the lessons learned to the development of such things as assistance systems for new Audi models.
The AARU includes a team of engineers that reconstructs the accident and documents the damage to the vehicle. This involves taking more than 400 photographs per vehicle and making roughly 1,300 technical entries in the database.
The medical aspects are also a central focus of the AARUs accident analyses. The doctors analyze the injury patterns and healing processes. Depending on the severity of the injuries and the healing process, it could be several months before a case is finally closed. An overview with all of the injuries is prepared for each accident victim. Injuries are classified according to their severity and possible long-term consequences.
A team of psychologists interviews all of the persons involved in the accident to learn what they experienced subjectively, how they perceived the situation and what strategies they employed to avoid the accident.
The AO Foundation was established in Switzerland in 1959 and is headquartered in Davos. The non-profit organization currently maintains research facilities and laboratories for around 200 scientists. The research is concentrated on biomechanical issues and the research and development of innovative implants that help to minimize the scope of surgical procedures. The AO Foundation is also dedicated to science and the training of young scientists.
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