Rear impacts are widespread; as a result, injuries from this type of accident also remain high, despite extensive research and innovation in developing head restraints and safer seating. The IIHS has been at work testing a new kind of active head restraint.
Active head restraints that change position have been available for several years. They offer greater comfort and adjust to vehicle impact. A new system that uses rear-facing sensors to activate the head restraint before impact has been tested at IIHS.
To better understand the benefits of the new design, the system was put in two separate tests. The first test was the acceleration test to see if improved geometry demonstrated real benefit, in the sled the dummy forces and accelerations were lower, due to the improved positioning that the new device offered.
The second test was a full-scale vehicle crash test. Again, the rear-facing sensors detected the incoming impact and readjusted the head restraint ahead of time.
Watch the full video release from IIHS with footage of the tests.
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