The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety recently looked at 6 different minivans and found that those in the Ford 2006 Nissan Quest, the 2005-2006 Toyota Siena and the 2004-2006 Mazda MPV among others failed to give efficient head support in the event of a whip lash injury.
The test measured the effects of rear end collisions at relatively low speeds and found that the necks of the test dummies were put at risk. Because of anatomy, the neck is the most at risk to be hurt in a standard rear end car accident. Proper design of the head restraint on the seat in a vehicle is important in preventing some of these common injuries. What you want to achieve is to have the head restraint be high enough toward the top of your head and close enough to the back of the head to provide support in the forward and back motion in these car wrecks. Changing these seat back designs is not that difficult for the manufacturers. Hopefully, the auto makers will do what is necessary to perform better on these tests in the future.
You can help yourself by making sure that your head rest in the best position possible for you. This generally means to move it forward and have it in a place where it is not to many inches from the back of your head. Ideally, it should come up to within an inch of the top of your head as well. You can improve the chances of not being hurt in a car crash by making this simple adjustment in your own car.
For more information on this subject, please refer to our section on Automobile and Motorcycle Accidents.
Rick Shapiro has practiced personal injury law for over 30 years in Virginia, North Carolina, and throughout the Southeastern United States. He is a Board-Certified Civil Trial Advocate by the National Board of Trial Advocacy (ABA Accredited) and has litigated injury cases throughout the eastern United States, including wrongful death, trucking, faulty products, railroad, and medical negligence claims. During his three-decade career, Shapiro has won client appeals before the VA Supreme Court, VA Court of Appeals, NC Supreme Court, SC Supreme Court, WV Supreme Court, TN Supreme Court, and three times before the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, underscoring Shapiro’s trial achievements. In addition, he and his law firm have won settlements/verdicts in excess of $100 million. His success in and out of the courtroom is a big reason why he was named 2019 “Lawyer of the Year” in railroad law in U.S. News & World Report's Best Lawyers publication (Norfolk, VA area), and he has been named a “Best Lawyer” and “Super Lawyer” by those peer-reviewed organizations for multiple years. Rick was also named a “Leader in the Law, Class of 2022” by Virginia Lawyers Weekly (total of 33 statewide honorees consisting of lawyers and judges across Virginia). And in September 2023, Rick was selected as a recipient of the National Board of Trial Advocacy (NBTA) 2023 President’s Award. Although many nominations were submitted from across the country, Rick was just one of eight attorneys chosen by the prestigious National Board which certifies civil trial attorneys across the U.S. Rick was also recently named to Virginia Lawyers Weekly 2024 Virginia’s Go To Lawyers Medical Malpractice. The attorneys awarded this honor are nominated by their colleagues and chosen by a panel from the publication.
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