City Cars Offer Poor Whiplash Protection

Thatcham, the car insurers research centre has released studies which place small city cars at the bottom of the pile for safety. Small models such as the Ford Ka and Fiat Panda which many drive in an effort to reduce emissions were both rated as poor for whiplash protection.

Smaller, lighter cars offer less protection from whiplash due to their light build and manufacturers need to compensate for this with better headrest protection. The study focused mainly on headrest protection and found that smaller cars were consistently lagging behind in their standards of headrest protection.

Drivers wishing to reduce emissions and fit into small spaces in the city environment are losing out when it comes to safety. No city cars included in the study were rated as good for whiplash protection.

Rear end shunts at low speed are common accidents in city centres and the most popular cars are not offering adequate protection from whiplash. Low speed collisions are a major cause of whiplash injuries and even minor accidents can result in painful long term damage.

The newly released Fiat 500, expected to achieve a good rating was deemed to only offer marginal protection from whiplash injuries. The highest scoring makes were Audi, Volvo and Saab. These makes of car scored good for seat design across all models.

Crash research manager Matthew Avery is concerned that safety should not become a luxury, with only the more expensive models offering high standards of safety. He hopes that the study can go some way towards prompting manufacturers to provide higher levels of headrest and seat protection as standard.

Mr Avery feels that manufacturers of these smaller models are not primarily concerned with safety. Although the knowledge is there to fit smaller cars with high levels of whiplash protection it is not being done.

The smaller models aimed at city types place more priority on keeping the price low and the weight of the car down. Larger cars aimed at families place much more emphasis on safety than these smaller cars driven mostly by younger, single people without families.

Mr Avery urges manufacturers to work harder at providing whiplash protection, especially as whiplash is one of the most common injuries and is particularly common in low speed city crashes, where the majority of these cars are being driven.

“'Although across the board we are seeing improved seat designs with around 75% of all new seats tested now achieving a "good" or "acceptable" rating, more can certainly still be done.”

“City cars are not equipped to protect their occupants’ necks when they have to absorb the crash energy from larger, heavier vehicles which, combined with poor seat design, makes whiplash far more likely.”

The study will hopefully cause manufactures to sit up and take notice. Failing to provide adequate protection from whiplash in the type of cars most likely to be involved in the type of accidents which cause whiplash injuries is surely a grave oversight.