Test dummies test seat and head restraints
in popular vehicles

Using a new dynamic test and a dummy designed especially for rear impact testing, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has rated 73 seat/head restraint combinations available in 63 car models sold in the U.S. market. The ratings of good, acceptable, marginal, or poor indicate the range of occupant protection from whiplash injury in rear-end crashes at low to moderate speeds.

Starting points for the ratings are the evaluations of head restraint geometry the Institute has been conducting since 1995. Now seats with head restraints that have good or acceptable geometry are being tested dynamically to compare their protection against neck injury in rear impacts. These seat/head restraint combinations earn overall ratings based on both geometry and dynamic test results. The Institute isn't testing seats with head restraints rated marginal or poor for geometry because such seats won't protect taller people. These seat/head restraint combinations are rated poor overall, based on geometry.

Only 8 of the 73 seat/head restraints that were dynamically tested earned overall ratings of good. Sixteen are acceptable, and 19 are rated marginal. The other 30 seat/head restraint combinations that were tested are rated poor, as are 24 seats that weren't tested because of inadequate geometry. Addendum 1 (PDF) lists the ratings of seat/head restraints that were dynamically tested. Addendum 2 (PDF) lists the seats rated poor overall based on restraint geometry. The seat/head restraints that were dynamically tested together with those that weren't represent available seats in current car models the Institute has evaluated in its high-speed frontal offset crash test program.

The Institute's ratings of seats and head restraints in cars sold in the U.S. market are part of an international program that includes ratings of additional seat/head restraints sold in the Canadian, Australian, and European markets.

"Consumers in markets worldwide can use the new ratings to buy cars that provide better protection in rear-end crashes," says Adrian Lund, the Institute's chief operating officer.

Winners and losers: Among the seat/head restraints that were tested dynamically, the winners are the ones in Volvos (all models) and Saab 9-2X and 9-3 models. These are rated good. So are the seat/head restraints in the Jaguar S-Type, Subaru Impreza, and some Volkswagen New Beetles. The dynamic test performance of the 2004 Toyota Corolla's seat/head restraint also was good, but this car's overall rating is acceptable because the head restraint's geometry is rated acceptable.

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