A dashboard knee injury often happens when a person is involved in a head-on collision and is not seat-belted or is seat-belted, but the momentum of the crash causes the knees to propel forward underneath the seatbelt and strike the dashboard of the automobile.
The most common injury that occurs in a dashboard knee injury is a posterior cruciate ligament injury, which is disruption or damage to the posterior cruciate ligament that generally, along with the anterior cruciate ligament, helps stabilize the knee in its proper alignment. When the ligament is torn from direct trauma, the knee will be painful and unstable when attempting to walk on it. Swelling of the knee is common after this type of injury.