Car accidents can cause injuries ranging from sprains and fractures to traumatic brain and spinal cord injuries. Their effects vary with the injury and its severity: some people recover over days or weeks, while others have symptoms or disabilities that last longer. A list of symptoms cannot diagnose an injury or predict an individual’s recovery.
What injuries can a car accident cause?
Crash injuries can affect the head and brain, spine, bones, muscles, and internal organs. Examples include concussion, other traumatic brain injuries (TBIs), spinal cord injuries, fractures, sprains and strains, and internal-organ injuries. These examples are not a ranking: the available figures do not establish which injuries are most common or how often each leads to lasting effects.
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported more than 2.8 million U.S. emergency department visits for motor vehicle crash injuries in 2023. This is a count of visits across injury types—not a count of unique people, a ranking of diagnoses, or a measure of long-term outcomes.
Head and brain injuries
Concussion and mild TBI
A blow, bump, or jolt to the head can cause a traumatic brain injury. A concussion is a mild TBI; “mild” describes the injury classification, not a guarantee that symptoms are trivial or should be ignored. According to the CDC, most people with mild TBI recover safely after medical evaluation, often over days or weeks, but some have symptoms for months or longer.
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Contact a healthcare provider if concussion or mild-TBI symptoms do not go away within two to three weeks, or if they worsen after a return to regular activities. Symptoms alone cannot confirm a concussion or establish how long recovery will take.
Moderate or severe TBI
Moderate or severe TBI can affect several areas of daily function. Possible effects include difficulty thinking, understanding, communicating, learning, or concentrating; weakness, poor coordination, or balance problems; hearing, vision, or other sensory changes; and changes in mood, behavior, or impulse control. Anxiety, depression, sadness, anger, and other emotional changes may also occur. These are possible effects, not a checklist for predicting any one person’s outcome, and effects can change during recovery.
The CDC’s 2024 summary reports that, among people still alive five years after moderate to severe TBI, 57% were moderately or severely disabled and 55% were not employed despite having been employed when injured. These figures describe a defined TBI population, not all people injured in car accidents.
A separate CDC five-year estimate reports that 22% died, 30% worsened, 22% stayed the same, and 26% improved. Those U.S. estimates concern people aged 16 and older who received inpatient rehabilitation for a primary TBI diagnosis, and are based on the TBI Model Systems National Database. They are not specific to car crashes and should not be used to forecast an individual’s outcome.
Spinal cord injuries
A crash can fracture or dislocate vertebrae. Bone fragments may tear or press on spinal cord tissue, disrupting signals between the brain and the body. The effects depend in part on whether the cord injury is complete or incomplete.
| Injury type | What it means | Possible effect described by MedlinePlus |
|---|---|---|
| Complete spinal cord injury | Signals are interrupted below the level of injury. | Paralysis below the injury. |
| Incomplete spinal cord injury | Some signals continue to pass below the injury. | Some movement and sensation may remain. |
MedlinePlus describes spinal cord injury as a medical emergency. Immediate treatment may reduce long-term effects; suspected spinal cord injury needs urgent medical care.
Other injuries and what is known about lasting effects
Fractures, sprains and strains, and internal-organ injuries are other possible crash injuries. Their consequences depend on the specific injury and its severity, but the figures cited here do not establish prevalence rankings or characteristic long-term outcomes for these categories. A general overview cannot determine whether a particular person has one of them or what their recovery will be.
Quick Recap
When to seek medical advice
- Get professional assessment for a suspected head or spinal injury after a crash; do not use a symptom list to rule one out.
- For mild-TBI or concussion symptoms, contact a healthcare provider if they persist beyond two to three weeks or worsen after returning to regular activities.
- Seek medical assessment for persistent or worsening symptoms after a crash. This article provides general information, not diagnosis or an individualized prognosis.
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