{"id":65858,"date":"2026-01-27T13:54:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T16:54:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automotive.einnews.com\/article\/886944742"},"modified":"2026-01-27T13:54:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T16:54:07","slug":"safety-group-pushes-carmakers-to-prevent-neck-injuries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/2026\/01\/27\/safety-group-pushes-carmakers-to-prevent-neck-injuries\/","title":{"rendered":"Safety group pushes carmakers to prevent neck injuries"},"content":{"rendered":"

DETROIT (WWJ) — There’s a new effort to protect drivers from whiplash in a crash.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhiplash is a big problem,\u201d says Marcy Edwards, a senior research engineer at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.   \u201cRear impact crashes are the most common crash on the roadway today.\u201d<\/p>\n

So the institute has toughened the crash test it puts vehicles through to determine how well seats and head restraints prevent neck injuries.   Edwards was responsible for developing the new test, that replaced a procedure that had been in use for twenty years.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe original test simulated a rear impact crash, a vehicle getting impacted at 20 miles per hour.  This new update expands the the test that we assess by adding an additional test, where it simulates a vehicle getting impacted at thirty miles an hour.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the first round of evaluations using the new test, only four of 18 vehicles got a good rating.  Nine were acceptable.  Five were given poor ratings.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Only <\/div>
Vehicle scores on new whiplash test<\/span> <\/span> Photo credit IIHS<\/cite> <\/figcaption>{ “@context”: “http:\/\/schema.org”, “@type”: “ImageObject”, “author”: “IIHS”, “caption”: “Vehicle scores on new whiplash test”, “contentUrl”: “https:\/\/radioimg.audacy.com\/aiu-media\/Whiplash-ratings-dec47419-e902-44f1-97f2-ee40cde35898.png” }\n<\/div>\n

\u201cNeck sprains and strains are the most frequently reported injuries in U.S. auto insurance claims,\u201d says IIHS President David Harkey.  \u201cThis new test challenges automakers to further improve their seats and head restraints to provide better protection in the rear impacts that typically cause these injuries.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety is funded by the insurance industry, with the goal of pushing carmakers into building safer vehicles.  Their frequent crash tests are closely watched.  Carmakers strive to get one of their \u201cTop Safety Pick\u201d designations for their vehicles.<\/p>\n

We often see carmakers take these tests into account when they are redesigning vehicles.  So this could result in future vehicles including more head and neck protection<\/p>\n

\u201cAutomakers did a great job responding to the twenty mile an hour crash,\u201d says Edwards. \u201cThey had twenty years to improve their seats so they did well in that test. But, it really didn\u2019t make the problem go away.”<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/strong> <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

… .\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u0080\u009cThis new test challenges automakers<\/span> to further improve their seats … with the goal of pushing carmakers<\/span> into building safer vehicles.\u00c2\u00a0 … tests are closely watched.\u00c2\u00a0 Carmakers<\/span> strive to get one of … vehicles. We often see carmakers<\/span> take these tests into account …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-65858","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65858","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65858"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65858\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}