Improved Headrests Could Save Your Neck
My introduction to whiplash occurred 16 years ago when a carload of rambunctious teenagers plowed into the back of my car at a busy intersection.
I’ll never forget the dreadful moment before impact when I looked in the rearview mirror and saw that the driver and his friends were having so much fun they hadn’t noticed traffic had come to a stop.
My car was totaled, and the next morning I felt as if I’d been hit by a big-rig truck. I wore a neck brace for nearly a week.
Close to 1 million people a year suffer painful whiplash injuries, caused when the neck whips violently back and forth in vehicle accidents, most often involving rear-end collisions.
It’s an injury that continues to occur even though head restraints have been required in the U.S. since 1969. Whiplash injuries cost the insurance industry about $7 billion a year in claims, said Russ Rader, spokesman for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety in Arlington, Va.
Moreover, studies have shown that as many as 43% of those injured may suffer long-term chronic problems, including neck pain, stiffness and headaches.
Vehicle head restraints--often called headrests and erroneously positioned to be used as pillows instead of safety devices--are key to preventing whiplash injuries.
But not all of them are designed well enough to provide proper protection. Indeed, poorly designed head restraints actually can increase the risk of whiplash, said Rader, whose institute is supported by the insurance industry.
The good news is that the auto industry and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration are working to provide better head restraint protection. NHTSA is in the process of proposing new head restraint standards to replace those that have been around for 30 years.
If approved, the new standards would require auto makers to design safer headrests that are positioned higher and closer to the back of seat occupants’ heads than is the case in many current models.
The Insurance Institute will step up its research this year when it begins using crash dummies for the first time in simulated rear-end accidents to determine how effective different head restraints are in reducing neck injuries.
Restraints that offer the best protection, Rader said, are those that reach to at least the top of the seat occupant’s ears and are positioned as close to the back of the head as possible.
Designs that leave more than four inches of space between the restraint and the back of the seat occupant’s head have been associated with increased likelihood of neck injury in crashes, the institute has found.
The research group’s top ratings go to “active” head restraint systems designed to move into a protective position. In the event of a rear impact, active restraints move closer to the back of the occupant’s head to prevent it from snapping back and injuring the neck.
The institute’s head restraint rating system, begun in 1995, measures the devices in relation to head position and evaluates them as “good,” “acceptable,” “marginal” or “poor.” The institute last published ratings of all vehicle head restraints in 2001 but has begun releasing new ratings for ’02 models. Those available can be obtained at www.hwysafety.org.
Last year, more than half the vehicles earned either “good” or “acceptable” evaluations.
Among those with “good” ratings this year are the Infiniti I30 and Q45, Buick LeSabre, Oldsmobile Aurora, Saab 9-3 and 9-5, Pontiac Bonneville and all Volvo models. All have active restraints.
Some models’ restraint ratings can change even though the basic vehicle doesn’t: The Ford Taurus, for instance, earned a “good” last year but dropped to “marginal” for 2002, Rader said.
And ratings can range within a single model line, depending on trim levels. The Ford Windstar minivan, for example, earns restraint ratings that range from “good” to “marginal,” depending on the type of seat offered.
Most pickups and sport utility vehicles have head restraints with “marginal” or “poor” ratings, although a few, such as Honda’s redesigned CR-V, scored better in 2002. The Honda went from the worst rating last year to the best this year. Typically--although not always--ratings improve when a vehicle is redesigned and updated.
And although there still are too many vehicles with marginal or poor head restraints, the most recent ratings do show that the industry is improving, said Clarence Ditlow, executive director of the Center for Auto Safety.
Just five years ago, the institute found that more than half of all new passenger vehicles had poorly designed head restraints that offered inadequate neck protection.
Only five vehicles in 1997 earned a “good” head restraint rating from the institute.
Experts insist that whatever the auto industry does to improve head restraints, drivers and passengers also must take responsibility for reducing whiplash injuries.
Studies have shown that more than half of all drivers don’t bother to safely adjust their head restraints. In fact, many people seem oblivious to the fact that head restraints are important safety features, Rader said.
Take it from someone who knows: A bout with whiplash and a week with a cervical collar probably would enlighten them.
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Jeanne Wright cannot answer mail personally but responds in this column to automotive questions of general interest. Please do not telephone. Write to Your Wheels, Business Section, Los Angeles Times, 202 W. 1st St., Los Angeles, CA 90012. E-mail: jeanrite@aol .com.
