WHIPLASH PROTECTION SYSTEM

During recent years the main focus in whiplash research has been on rear-end impacts. Rear-end impacts have the largest risk of whiplash injury and therefore much effort is being spent on decreasing this injury risk. The total number of frontal whiplash cases may be higher, despite the smaller risk. Therefore, it is clear that also in frontal impact there is a need for improvement of whiplash protection.

In the first European Whiplash project the rear impact loading phase was the main focus. The research at the time was mainly limited to the loading phase of rear impact, since most of the proposed injury mechanisms assume whiplash to occur in the loading phase. On the other hand, some of the mechanisms of whiplash injury are suggested to originate from the rebound phase of rear impact. The rebound phase involves neck flexion, as in frontal impact. Therefore, the current research aims at reducing whiplash in frontal and oblique impact and studies the rear-end rebound phase. In the end a test method will be proposed for evaluation of seats and restraint systems with respect to their whiplash protection. In this evaluation stage also a dummy is needed in order to assess the protection of a system. Part of the current project is to recommend on a dummy design that can be used for this purpose. Resulting from the findings in this concept, design guidelines for safer seat and restraint system design will be proposed.

Concept

Whiplash is a relatively common injury that occurs to a person's neck following a sudden acceleration-deceleration force, most commonly from motor vehicle accidents.Whiplash-a soft tissue injury to the neck-is also called neck sprain or neck strain. It is characterized by a collection of symptoms that occur following damage to the neck, usually because of sudden extension and flexion. Hyperextension injury to the neck, often the result of being struck from behind, as by a fast moving vehicle in a car accident. Whiplash is a term used most often to describe the symptoms resulting from a car accident.

In order to understand how a whiplash injury occurs, you need to understand the structure of your body.  The main support structure of your body is your spine, which consists of interlocking bones called vertebrae.  Each vertebra is separated by a tough sack of jelly, called a disc.

In minor cases, the quick jerk to the neck will only result is some muscle damage, which can heal.  In more severe cases, the whiplash motion can strain and sometimes even rupture the squishy discs that separate the vertebrae.  When the disc gets damaged, the injured person may experience extreme pain, numbness, tingling, and other unpleasant sensations in the neck.

Conclusion

The aim of this seminar is to develop an anti-whiplash car seat.  The design was based on the idea that the extent of whiplash injury can be reduced by controlling the differential motion of the head .The initial idea was to develop a car seat with an active head restraint to control the motion of the head and neck. The reason for this is that during a rear impact, the torso loads the seatback and causes it to rotate rearward and hence forces the fixed head restraint away from the head. This allows the head to translate and rotate further than expected. 

A modular design was used to enable the new seatback design to be removed and allow the seat to be configured as a standard seat. An active head restraint mechanism was incorporated into the design, which allowed rearward torso translation into the seatback to activate a mechanism to position the head restraint further forward and upward. This mechanism could be locked to revert the head restraint design to a standard configuration. These features made it possible to have four different seat configurations in one seat. A standard seat with and without an active head restraint and a concept seat with and without an active head restraint.