Motorists Still Nonchalant About Head Restraints

The risk of a fatal traffic crash worries many motorists, but statistics show that an accident is more likely to result in a garden-variety whiplash--not fatal, but apt to cause pain for days, even months.

The federal government began requiring neck protection in 1969, but after 33 years many motorists still are nonchalant about the risks they face and the need for the best possible safety equipment in their vehicles.

Neck injuries from rear-end collisions affect about 800,000 Americans every year and cost about $7 billion for medical attention, rehabilitation and insurance claims.

“Neck injuries are the single largest type of injury that we see in our claims,” said John Bindseil, medical claims manager at Progressive Casualty Insurance Co.

Many of those injuries could be prevented if motorists would pay closer attention to the problem.

A recent study by Progressive, the nation’s fourth-largest car insurer, found that 86% of drivers do not know the correct position for a head restraint and 40% never bother to adjust the restraints after buying a new car.

The optimal position places the top of the head restraint no more than 2.5 inches below the top of the head, or about even with the ears. The head restraint should be positioned no more than 4 inches from the back of the seat occupant’s head--2.5 inches is better yet.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is studying whether to update its decades-old standard for head restraints, though it is unclear whether it will issue a new rule. Much of the research and pioneering engineering in preventing whiplash comes from Europe, which has long had stricter safety standards for head restraints than the U.S.

Nonetheless, the auto industry is rapidly improving head restraints on its own.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety evaluates head restraints designs and in its most recent examination of 200 models found half had marginal or poor designs. In 1995, only five models had good or acceptable designs.

But many vehicles still have mediocre restraint systems, and it is sometimes impossible to properly adjust the head restraints the car makers provide.

Head restraint standards apply only to front seats, and many models have no protection for rear-seat occupants, a troubling omission for parents with tall teenagers.

The best cars are continuing to get better. General Motors, Saab and Volvo, among others, are working on advanced head restraint systems that would provide substantially more safety.

Saab and GM offer active systems on some of their models that allow the restraint to move up and forward during an accident. Volvo, meanwhile, has a fixed restraint but allows its entire seat to flex backward, reducing the forces acting on the neck.

Whiplash, as it is commonly called, is an injury of the soft tissue--muscles, tendons and ligaments--in the neck.

Although 90% of those injuries go away within a year of an accident, some become lifelong problems. Hyperextension of the spinal column explains much of the strain on the tissue, but compression of spinal fluid also is thought to be a cause of long-lasting nerve damage.

Preventing such injury requires a system that limits acceleration of the torso relative to the head during an accident. Less stiff car frames and flexible seats help. The head restraint completes the protection by catching the head and keeping it aligned with the torso.

The Insurance Institute has found that the head restraints it rates as good or acceptable can prevent serious whiplash in a 15 mph crash most of the time.

Its ratings for specific car models can be found on the group’s Web site at www.hwysafety.org. Those ratings are based on the physical configuration of the restraints.

But the institute has built and just begun to operate a crash test sled that will allow researchers to simulate the forces in a rear-end collision and to measure dynamically the effectiveness of different restraint systems.

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Ralph Vartabedian responds in this column to automotive questions of general interest. Write to Your Wheels, Business Section, Los Angeles Times, 202 W. 1st St., Los Angeles, CA 90012. E-mail: ralph .vartabedian@latimes.com.