Saving Your Neck
For: Car Talk, April 2002
What's the first thing you should do when you
get in your car?
(a) Fasten your seat belt, (b)
disengage the emergency brake, or
(c) make sure the head restraint is correctly positioned?
The answer is (c). Adjust the head restraint, if need be, and then
fasten your seat belt. (Fixed restraints, which are less common,
are actually more effective than adjustable ones.) The problem,
however, is that the head restraints in your car may not be well
designed. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety
(IIHS), the great majority of cars have poorly designed head restraints:
they are neither high enough to protect your head, nor close enough
to "catch" your head if it rotates backward in a crash.
Many of the adjustable ones don't even lock in the "up"
position. The 1998 models tended to have better head restraints
than older cars, but of 161 cars evaluated by IIHS, only 5 were
rated as having good head restraints, and only 22 as acceptable.
These were invariably the more expensive cars, such as the Acura
Integra, BMW 5 and 7 series, Cadillac Catera, Honda Civic del Sol,
Jaguar VDP and XJR, Lexus ES 300, Mercedes E andSL series, Toyota
Supra, and Volvo 960. IIHS has not surveyed 1999 models.
Why have a head restraint?
Head restraints, mandated by the U.S. in front seats
since 1969, are intended to protect you from whiplash. Usually occurring
in rear-end collisions, whiplash is a neck strain or sprain caused
by the sudden backward rotation of the head in a crash. Your torso
is thrust upward, your head backward, and then both your head and
torso rebound forward. The experts are still not sure just how this
injures the neck, but neck sprains and strains are reported in up
to 66% of auto insurance claims for bodily injuries. Some of these
claims are thought to be fraudulent, but genuine whiplash can cause
headaches and facial pain and, in rare cases, chronic neurological
problems. The cost is enormous—billions of dollars in medical
care, plus higher rates for car insurance. And we all pay, even
drivers who've never been in a crash.
Doing the best you can with what you have
Head restraints, even not-so-good ones, do reduce
the risk of neck injuries when correctly used. Check the restraints
when you are buying a new or used car. The U.S. standard requires
that, when fully extended, the top of the restraint measure at least
27.5 inches from the horizontal portion of the seat. The European
standard is 29.5 inches, about to be upgraded to 31.5 inches, enough
to protect very tall people. The U.S. standard may also be upgraded.
Adjust the restraint before fastening your seat belt
if someone else has been sitting in the seat before you. This simple
act may save you lots of pain and money. Make sure the restraint
sits as near the top of your head as possible, no less than 3.5
inches below the top of your head, and no more than 3 inches from
the back of your head. The restraint ideally should lock into position
once you've determined what the proper height is.
When the car-buying public begins to ask for better
design in head restraints, we'll probably get it.
Futuristic note: The
latest safety feature in the new Saab 900 is a self-aligning headrest,
called the "Pro-tech" system. You can choose any position
for the headrest when driving. If the car is rear-ended, sensors
in the seat back detect your movement, and the headrest moves into
position to keep your head from snapping back.
UC Berkeley Wellness Letter, January 1999
