PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF AUTOMOBILE HEAD RESTRAINTS

ACCIDENT CASES INVOLVING CARS WITHOUT HEAD RESTRAINTS ARE COMPARED WITH CARS HAVING THIS DEVICE TO EVALUATE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF HEAD RESTRAINTS, THEIR POSITION WHEN IMPACT OCCURRED, AND TO PROVIDE SOME DETAILS CONCERNING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN OCCUPANT POSITION, SEAT BACK DAMAGE, AND CERVICAL INJURY. A REDUCTION IN NONDANGEROUS CERVICAL INJURY WAS ASSOCIATED WITH THE HEAD RESTRAINT GROUP. HOWEVER, DUE TO SMALL NUMBERS THIS COULD NOT BE CONFIRMED STATISTICALLY. APPROXIMATELY 73% OF THE ADJUSTABLE HEAD RESTS WERE IN THEIR LOWEST POSITION. THE POSITION OF THE OCCUPANT ON THE SEAT STRONGLY INFLUENCED INJURY. LARGER AMOUNTS OF REARWARD ROTATION OF THE SEAT BACK WERE ASSOCIATED WITH LOWER INJURY SEVERITY THAN LIMITED ROTATION. /SAE/

• Corporate Authors:

  Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE)

  400 Commonwealth Drive
  Warrendale, PA  United States  15096
• Authors:
  • GARRETT, J W
  • Morris, D F
• Publication Date: 1972

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Evaluation; Headrests; Performance; Whiplash
• Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00221671
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Sae Journal of Automotive Engineering
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: May 9 1972 12:00AM