Until the entire worlds stops thinking in terms of head rest and starts to understand that they're really head restraints, their safety value will go largely unappreciated.
But maybe a report that claims that the seat/head restraints in "most current minivan models are marginal or poor, indicating they wouldn't provide adequate protection from whiplash injuries for many people in rear-end collisions" will get the needle moving on that.
This is the claim from a the U.S. insurance industry-sponsored Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) study, and it deserves a lot of attention from people considering one of the classic family haulers. Indeed, it has even more resonance in Canada, since Canadian consumers tend to buy about twice as many minivans per capita as Americans.
Also overdue for a perspective adjustment is the notion of whiplash, which tends to draw ironic smiles from many people, thanks largely to its media status as the creation of people looking to cheat the system with a fake injury. In truth, few injuries can be as debilitating, since it's hard to do anything with your body without it involving your neck. So this should be a serious issue for minivan buyers.
These findings may be especially important for women who spend a lot of time doing soccer mom-type driving, since most drivers' seats are created with men in mind and it's the low-speed urban rear-ender that creates the most neck-injuring crashes.
After doing its tests, the IIHS rated only the Ford Freestar and its Mercury Monterey twin (which isn't sold in Canada) as earning "Good" overall ratings, and some Dodge Grand Caravan and Chrysler Town & Country models (the ones with adjustable head restraints) are rated "Acceptable," and Honda's Odyssey earned a "Marginal," but the rest of the vehicles tested scored a "Poor".
Those vehicles given a "Poor" rating included Buick Terraza, Chevrolet Astro and Uplander, Chrysler Town & Country, Dodge Caravan/Grand Caravan, GMC Safari, Mazda MPV, Nissan Quest, Pontiac Montana SV6, Saturn Relay, and Toyota Sienna.
IIHS CEO Adrian Lund explains that starting points for the ratings are measurements of head restraint geometry -- the height of a restraint and its horizontal distance behind the back of the head of an average-size man.
"Seats with good or acceptable restraint geometry then are tested dynamically using a dummy that measures forces on the neck," says Lund. "This test simulates a collision in which a stationary vehicle is struck in the rear at 20 mph. Seats without good or acceptable geometry are rated poor overall because they cannot be positioned to protect many people."
In general, Lund notes, "automakers are improving the geometry of their head restraints, compared with the last time we evaluated them. Still, in this group of minivans the Fords are the only models with good dynamic performance for all of their seat designs. Many of the seat/head restraints we evaluated didn't even get to the testing stage because of marginal or poor geometry. These cannot begin to protect most people in rear-end crashes."
Lund says some seats automatically earn poor ratings. For example, the IIHS doesn't test seats with head restraints that are rated marginal or poor for geometry because such seats cannot be positioned to protect many taller people. The seats that weren't tested in this group include all of those in the Chevrolet Astro, GMC Safari, Mazda MPV, and Nissan Quest, plus some seats in the Grand Caravan and Toyota Sienna.
But maybe a report that claims that the seat/head restraints in "most current minivan models are marginal or poor, indicating they wouldn't provide adequate protection from whiplash injuries for many people in rear-end collisions" will get the needle moving on that.
This is the claim from a the U.S. insurance industry-sponsored Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) study, and it deserves a lot of attention from people considering one of the classic family haulers. Indeed, it has even more resonance in Canada, since Canadian consumers tend to buy about twice as many minivans per capita as Americans.
Also overdue for a perspective adjustment is the notion of whiplash, which tends to draw ironic smiles from many people, thanks largely to its media status as the creation of people looking to cheat the system with a fake injury. In truth, few injuries can be as debilitating, since it's hard to do anything with your body without it involving your neck. So this should be a serious issue for minivan buyers.
These findings may be especially important for women who spend a lot of time doing soccer mom-type driving, since most drivers' seats are created with men in mind and it's the low-speed urban rear-ender that creates the most neck-injuring crashes.
After doing its tests, the IIHS rated only the Ford Freestar and its Mercury Monterey twin (which isn't sold in Canada) as earning "Good" overall ratings, and some Dodge Grand Caravan and Chrysler Town & Country models (the ones with adjustable head restraints) are rated "Acceptable," and Honda's Odyssey earned a "Marginal," but the rest of the vehicles tested scored a "Poor".
Those vehicles given a "Poor" rating included Buick Terraza, Chevrolet Astro and Uplander, Chrysler Town & Country, Dodge Caravan/Grand Caravan, GMC Safari, Mazda MPV, Nissan Quest, Pontiac Montana SV6, Saturn Relay, and Toyota Sienna.
IIHS CEO Adrian Lund explains that starting points for the ratings are measurements of head restraint geometry -- the height of a restraint and its horizontal distance behind the back of the head of an average-size man.
"Seats with good or acceptable restraint geometry then are tested dynamically using a dummy that measures forces on the neck," says Lund. "This test simulates a collision in which a stationary vehicle is struck in the rear at 20 mph. Seats without good or acceptable geometry are rated poor overall because they cannot be positioned to protect many people."
In general, Lund notes, "automakers are improving the geometry of their head restraints, compared with the last time we evaluated them. Still, in this group of minivans the Fords are the only models with good dynamic performance for all of their seat designs. Many of the seat/head restraints we evaluated didn't even get to the testing stage because of marginal or poor geometry. These cannot begin to protect most people in rear-end crashes."
Lund says some seats automatically earn poor ratings. For example, the IIHS doesn't test seats with head restraints that are rated marginal or poor for geometry because such seats cannot be positioned to protect many taller people. The seats that weren't tested in this group include all of those in the Chevrolet Astro, GMC Safari, Mazda MPV, and Nissan Quest, plus some seats in the Grand Caravan and Toyota Sienna.