Today's News by Jack Nerad for Driving Today

Good News for Your Neck

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

When you think of smart automotive technology, you don’t usually think of head restraints, once derisively referred to as “head rests.”

Yet the newest head restraints are preventing serious injury.

For example, an innovative active head restraint system from Grammer Industries deploys and moves forward in a rear-end collision, decreasing the space between the restraint and the occupant's head, which helps reduce injuries caused by whiplash.

The technology is featured on all four Chrysler Group LLC vehicles that received the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) “Top Safety Pick” for 2010. The IIHS awarded the 2010 Jeep Patriot, Chrysler Sebring, Dodge Avenger and Dodge Journey with its highest rating. The award recognizes vehicles that best protect passengers in front, side, rear and rollover crashes (based on ratings in institute tests). IIHS “Top Safety Pick” vehicles must also offer electronic stability control.

An IIHS study noted that neck injuries from rear-end collisions are the most common type of injury reported in auto crashes, accounting for two million insurance claims annually. These “soft-tissue” injuries help many attorneys stay in business.

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