STEERING WHEEL CONTROL FOR IMMINENT VEHICLE COLLISIONS

A vehicle system for reducing an injury risk of a driver in a vehicle, includes a control module configured to detect whether a collision is imminent with respect to the vehicle, determine a hand position of the driver on a steering wheel in the vehicle, in response to detecting the imminent collision, decouple the steering wheel and a road wheel assembly in the vehicle to allow both to move independently of each other, and in response to determining the hand position of the driver is in an injury zone, control the steering wheel to move to a target position before the collision. Other example vehicle systems and control methods are also disclosed.