The first U.S. study of redesigned head restraints' performance in real-world crashes shows that automakers are responding to insurers' and safety advocates' concerns with more effective designs. They are most important in preventing neck injuries from read-end collisions. The most straightforward approach is to improve their geometry by raising them and bringing them closer to the back of the seat occupant's head. Slightly more complicated is an active restraint that uses a mechanism in the seatback to push the restraint up and toward the head when the occupant's torso pushes back in the seat. A third avenue is changing seatback designs that slow a torso's acceleration, which is what starts the sequence of forces that cause whiplash injuries. A study of injury claims filed with insurers showed reductions in neck injury claims of 43% in some instances and as high as 69% for women in some cars. The next step will be dynamic testing of different systems. (Author/publisher)
Abstract