New York – Head restraints in several passenger vehicles provided marginal or poor protection against neck injuries and whiplash, the insurance industry reported today in new crash-test results.
Only 22 of 75 vehicles tested in a simulated rear crash at 20 mph received the top score of good from the Virginia- based Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
Several 2007 vehicles got the lowest score of poor in the tests.
The institute estimates that neck injuries account for 2 million insurance claims annually, costing at least $8.5 billion.
“People think of head restraints as headrests, but they’re not. They’re important safety features,” said Adrian Lund, the institute’s president. “You’re more likely to need the protection of a good head restraint than the other safety devices in your vehicle because rear-end crashes are so common.”
Bill Kwong, a Toyota spokesman, said the test does not take into account other aspects of a vehicle’s response to a crash under normal driving conditions, such as the vehicle’s structure, rear crumple zones and bumpers.
“We feel our in-house procedures are good predictors of how it will perform in the real world,” Kwong said.
The vehicles were tested on a crash- simulation sled, replicating the forces in a stationary vehicle that is struck in the rear by a similar vehicle at 20 mph.
Vehicles got a higher rating if the head restraint contacted the dummy’s head quickly and the forces on the dummy’s neck and the acceleration of the torso were low.
The tests also consider the height of the restraint and its horizontal distance behind the back of the head of an average-size man.
The institute says a head restraint should extend at least as high as the top of the ears of the tallest motorist.
Among the safest …
Cars that scored highest on head-restraint crash tests by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety:
