title: IIHS head restraint ratings and insurance injury claim rates.
abstract: The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) rates front seat/head restraint designs using a combination of static and dynamic measurements following RCAR-IIWPG procedures. The purpose of this study was to determine whether vehicles with better IIHS-rated seats/head restraints had lower injury risk in rear-end collisions and how the effect of better rated seats interacted with driver gender and age.
  
  
  
  The presence of an associated insurance injury claim was determined for rear-impact crashes using 2001-2014 model year cars and SUVs. Logistic regression was used to compare injury risk for vehicles with good, acceptable, and marginal IIHS-rated seats/head restraints with poor-rated seats/head restraints. Analyses were run by gender and driver age and also by the rate of more severe injury claims.
  
  
  
  Injury rates were 11.2% lower for vehicles with seats/head restraints rated good compared to vehicles with seats/head restraints rated poor. The percentage reduction for good- versus poor-rated seats was greater for females (12.7%) than males (8.9%). Comparing good- with poor-rated seats, driver ages 15-24 had the largest reduction at 19.8%, followed by 10.7% for driver ages 45-64 and 10.4% for driver ages 25-44.
  
  
  
  Seats/head restraints with better IIHS ratings are associated with lower injury rates in rear-impact collisions than seats rated poor. The reductions in injury rates were strongest for females and for young-to-middle-age drivers. The strong reductions in injury rates for these groups are encouraging given their high initial injury rates.
authors.affiliation: a Highway Loss Data Institute and Insurance Institute for Highway Safety , Arlington , Virginia.
authors.forename: Rebecca E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Trempel
authors.affiliation: a Highway Loss Data Institute and Insurance Institute for Highway Safety , Arlington , Virginia.
authors.forename: David S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Zuby
authors.affiliation: a Highway Loss Data Institute and Insurance Institute for Highway Safety , Arlington , Virginia.
authors.forename: Marcy A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Edwards
mesh_terms: D000063:Accidents, Traffic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001336:Automobiles / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006259:Craniocerebral Trauma / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007345:Insurance Claim Review; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011482:Protective Devices / Q000592:standards*; D018570:Risk Assessment; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: head restraints; rear-impact collisions; whiplash