TROLLHATTAN, Sweden: Anyone who's ever had a genuine case of whiplash can attest to the fact that it can cause persistent and serious discomfort, and create stiff financial and emotional costs as well.
Women understand this better than men, since they traditionally suffer twice as many serious whiplash injuries. So a new study showing that an active head restraint system can greatly lower the rate of whiplash for men and virtually eliminate it for women should be of particular interest to female drivers.
The study of real-life Swedish road crashes shows that the system in Saabs delivers "a remarkable 75 per cent reduction in serious whiplash injury," explained GM researcher Dr. David Viano at a safety seminar here near Saab's headquarters.
While the proportion of those reporting short-term pain was more or less similar in both groups 35 per cent compared to 37 per cent there was "a remarkable 75 per cent improvement in medium and long term injuries, 17.6 per cent compared to just 4.3 per cent."
The study also found that women had a higher rate of short-term pain from whiplash caused by rear-end collisions, but none experienced medium or long-term pain.
Viano said the "Impressive results exceeded expectations. Saab's Active Head Restraint system also allowed 25 per cent more drivers and front seat passengers to escape any injury at all."