Rear Impact Neck Protection by Reducing Occupant Forward Acceleration - A Study of Cars on Swedish Roads Equipped with Crash Recorders and a New Anti-Whiplash Device

By changing the seat force-deflection characteristics in an older car model without a certain whiplash-protection system, an after market Anti-Whiplash Device (AWD) was evaluated. In a rear impact, the forward acceleration of the occupant is reduced by a force controlled yielding of the seat front attachments. The aim is to evaluate the injury reducing effect of a principal system by studies of real-life accidents and crash tests. Approximately 8,000 cars were fitted with the AWD to the driver's seat and approximately 12,000 of the same car model formed a control group. All cars were equipped with a crash recorder, which measures the acceleration time history at the moment of impact. The risk of persisting symptoms (> 6 months) was significantly lower for drivers in cars fitted with AWD than without. The crash tests show that the risk is more than halved with the AWD than without. For the covering abstract see ITRD E141807.

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