Car Design Can Worsen Whiplash

Drivers have been warned to take as much care about their headrest positions as they do about wearing their seatbelt by car industry experts.

This is in response to research carried out by Thatcham which looked at car design and whiplash injury. They also report that last year saw the biggest improvement in car design with 80% of seats made in Europe getting a ‘good’ or ‘acceptable’ scoring. Only 16% of seats achieved this is in 2005 and in 2002 25% of all cars would not provide whiplash protection.

Peter Roberts, chief executive at Thatcham, said: “The majority of vehicle manufacturers have already incorporated geometrically correct designs that offer good protection. It is clear, however, that certain vehicle manufacturers need to make improvements to fall within the internationally recognised standards.”