Head Restraints: How They Can Prevent Whiplash

In a joint study just published by AXA and the motor research company Thatcham – it has been suggested that only 34% of cars have effective seats and head restraints, tailored to reduce whiplash. Furthermore, many cars on the UK roads do not have properly adjusted head restraints largely due to a high proportion of people being completely unaware as to how to adjust their head restraints properly.

It is a known fact in medical circles that poorly adjusted headrests lead to more whiplash injuries, however perhaps it is not publicised enough amongst the general public. A simple lesson on how to adjust your headrest properly could help prevent you suffering from an extremely painful injury, or reduce your whiplash symptoms significantly. In fact, according to AXA, solely through better head restraints and seats, a 65% reduction could be witnessed in whiplash claims made in the UK, meaning a reduction of 370,500 claims costing around £1.3 billion. With whiplash claims in the UK rising rapidly and the expense to the insurance business becoming somewhat astronomical, this is jarring to hear. Compensation claims effectively get people suffering from painful injuries the compensation they deserve, and this is great. However, at Loyalty Law we feel that prevention of injury is always better than compensation of injuries. No one wishes to suffer unnecessarily.

This is why Loyalty Law has always taken the issue of correctly adjusted head restraints extremely seriously as we understand how paramount a correctly adjusted head rest is for your safety. If you need to find out more about correctly adjusting your head rest you can view our information regarding headrests online or we can easily send you a free guide through the post. Just click here .

However, here is a quick run through of what you need to be aware of when adjusting your head rest:-

- Make sure you drive with your seat in an upright position, this will support your head and neck properly

- Your head rest should be located an inch behind the back of your head, at most. This will ensure that if you are in a collision your head will not travel a significantly large distance backwards.

- The head rest should be at the right height, with the top of the head rest being in line with the centre point of your forehead.

Always make sure you adjust your headrest when you get into a new car, or into your own car after someone else has used it. This will help you avoid a painful injury. Also when considering purchasing a new car, Thatcham provides safety ratings for seats and headrests which directly relate to how effective they are at reducing whiplash. Consider taking these into account when you are making your next purchase.

Author: Nicholas Jervis