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SUVs, pickups fail whiplash test
Only 6 of 59 pickups and SUVs provide 'good' protection; changes to Ford Ranger criticized.
From the January 9th edition of the Detroit News
Written by Jeff Plungis
WASHINGTON -- The vast majority of SUVs and pickup trucks will fail to protect passengers against neck injuries in rear-end collisions, according to a new study by a prominent safety group.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, based in Arlington, Va., tested 59 SUVs and pickups on the market. Only six models -- all SUVs -- earned a "good" rating, meaning the chances of a whiplash-type neck injury were remote.
"Manufacturer advertising often emphasizes the rugged image of SUVs and pickups," said Adrian Lund, president of the insurance institute. "However, the institute's evaluations show seats and head restraints in many models wouldn't do a good job of protecting most people in a typical rear impact in everyday commuter traffic."
Among vehicles with the worst safety ratings are some of the best-selling models, including the Chevrolet TrailBlazer, Ford Explorer, Toyota 4Runner and Chevrolet Silverado. Some seats in the Ford F-150 and Dodge Dakota also tested poorly.
The six trucks with the best head restraints include the Ford Freestyle, Honda Pilot, Jeep Grand Cherokee, Land Rover LR3, Subaru Forester and Volvo XC90.
The institute singled out Ford for changing one head restraint for the worse. Lund said for the 2006 model of the Ranger pickup Ford shortened the head restraint by three inches, lowering its rating from "good" in 2005 to "poor" this year.
In a statement, Ford said the restraint had been lowered following consumer complaints about a lack of visibility.
Only 6 of 59 SUVs, pickups offer good whiplash protection
Source: www.leftlanenews.com
The vast majority of SUVs and pickup trucks will fail to protect passengers against neck injuries in rear-end collisions, according to a new study by a prominent safety group cited by the Detroit News. Among vehicles with the worst safety ratings are some of the best-selling models, including the Chevrolet TrailBlazer, Ford Explorer, Toyota 4Runner and Chevrolet Silverado. Meanwhile, the six trucks with the best head restraints include the Ford Freestyle, Honda Pilot, Jeep Grand Cherokee, Land Rover LR3, Subaru Forester and Volvo XC90.
GM issues statement regarding poor whiplash scores
Source: www.leftlanenews.com
GM today issued a statement regarding the poor whiplash safety ratings for some of its cars. Seats and head restraints in GM vehicles are engineered to provide high levels of safety for occupants in a broad range of collisions, including low-speed rear crashes such as those simulated by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, the company said. The intent of the IIHS test is to evaluate the risk of whiplash, but the mechanisms of whiplash injury are still not proven or understood and the criteria are not validated with real-world injury studies.
Head restraint design requires a balance of many factors, and the IIHS evaluation criteria are some of the elements taken into account, along with varying occupant sizes, comfort and adjustability. The IIHS test is extremely sensitive to variation and can result in different ratings in the same vehicle, such as when one has leather-covered seats and the other has cloth-covered seats.
Only 6 of 59 pickups and SUVs provide 'good' protection; changes to Ford Ranger criticized.
From the January 9th edition of the Detroit News
Written by Jeff Plungis
WASHINGTON -- The vast majority of SUVs and pickup trucks will fail to protect passengers against neck injuries in rear-end collisions, according to a new study by a prominent safety group.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, based in Arlington, Va., tested 59 SUVs and pickups on the market. Only six models -- all SUVs -- earned a "good" rating, meaning the chances of a whiplash-type neck injury were remote.
"Manufacturer advertising often emphasizes the rugged image of SUVs and pickups," said Adrian Lund, president of the insurance institute. "However, the institute's evaluations show seats and head restraints in many models wouldn't do a good job of protecting most people in a typical rear impact in everyday commuter traffic."
Among vehicles with the worst safety ratings are some of the best-selling models, including the Chevrolet TrailBlazer, Ford Explorer, Toyota 4Runner and Chevrolet Silverado. Some seats in the Ford F-150 and Dodge Dakota also tested poorly.
The six trucks with the best head restraints include the Ford Freestyle, Honda Pilot, Jeep Grand Cherokee, Land Rover LR3, Subaru Forester and Volvo XC90.
The institute singled out Ford for changing one head restraint for the worse. Lund said for the 2006 model of the Ranger pickup Ford shortened the head restraint by three inches, lowering its rating from "good" in 2005 to "poor" this year.
In a statement, Ford said the restraint had been lowered following consumer complaints about a lack of visibility.
Only 6 of 59 SUVs, pickups offer good whiplash protection
Source: www.leftlanenews.com
The vast majority of SUVs and pickup trucks will fail to protect passengers against neck injuries in rear-end collisions, according to a new study by a prominent safety group cited by the Detroit News. Among vehicles with the worst safety ratings are some of the best-selling models, including the Chevrolet TrailBlazer, Ford Explorer, Toyota 4Runner and Chevrolet Silverado. Meanwhile, the six trucks with the best head restraints include the Ford Freestyle, Honda Pilot, Jeep Grand Cherokee, Land Rover LR3, Subaru Forester and Volvo XC90.
GM issues statement regarding poor whiplash scores
Source: www.leftlanenews.com
GM today issued a statement regarding the poor whiplash safety ratings for some of its cars. Seats and head restraints in GM vehicles are engineered to provide high levels of safety for occupants in a broad range of collisions, including low-speed rear crashes such as those simulated by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, the company said. The intent of the IIHS test is to evaluate the risk of whiplash, but the mechanisms of whiplash injury are still not proven or understood and the criteria are not validated with real-world injury studies.
Head restraint design requires a balance of many factors, and the IIHS evaluation criteria are some of the elements taken into account, along with varying occupant sizes, comfort and adjustability. The IIHS test is extremely sensitive to variation and can result in different ratings in the same vehicle, such as when one has leather-covered seats and the other has cloth-covered seats.
one would think.
