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Eliminating whiplash - The Physics Congress 2002

March 26, 2002

Women are twice as likely as men to suffer from whiplash injuries in car crashes, but help is here, according to new research presented today at the Institute of Physics Congress in Brighton. Dr Dave Viano, professor of traffic injury prevention at Chalmers University of Technology in the USA, will describe a new system developed specifically for women that has reduced the chance of getting whiplash injuries by 75 percent.

In high-speed rear crashes, the backs of the seats need to be strong enough to transfer the energy of the impact from the passengers whilst keeping them in their seats. In low-to-high speed crashes, the head rest and upper part of the back of the seat need to reduce the relative motion between the head and neck to prevent whiplash. Nine out of ten people do not adjust the head rest for their height and comfort, and not many of us are aware of the help head rests give us in an accident. In addition, women are even more prone to suffering whiplash than men for a number of reasons including the fact that women generally have more slender necks, tend to sit in a more upright position than men and do more short journeys than men, where rear crashes that often cause whiplash happen more often.

To combat the problem, a new system has been designed that automatically adjusts the head rest to prevent whiplash during an accident. The self-aligning head rest is designed to move upward and forward by the motion of the person in the seat when the car is hit from behind, to provide neck support as soon as possible ? even when the head rest is positioned too low down. Results of the new system over an eighteen month period show that the risk of whiplash injury is reduced by about 75 percent.

In the new system the seat stiffness is reduced, changing the occupants initial forward movement ? the occupant gradually accelerates forward in a more upright position than with the old system. In addition, the reclining part of the seat is stiffened, reducing backward rotation of the seat. A pivoting mechanism is also integrated into the head rest.

When the body of the occupant is forced onto the upper part of the back of the seat, the head rest pivots forward and upward, giving the head support during the impact and reducing whiplash.

?We are now working to improve the system by changing the car seats so that they absorb more energy to reduce rebound effects, as well as enhancing the seat frame structure,? said Dr Viano. ?The continued development of the safety performance is also essential to meet new consumer tests for whiplash in Europe,? he added.

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