For non-legal questions, please contact Louis Molino of the Regulatory Office, Bureau of Crashworthiness Standards, Light Vehicle Division, NVS-112 (telephone: 202-366-1740). For legal questions, please contact Edward Glancy of the Office of the Chief Counsel, CSA-112 (telephone: 202-366-2992). You may mail to these two agents at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., Washington, D.C. 20590. Until now, prevention measures have focused on the design of car seats, particularly through the introduction of head restraints, often referred to as head restraints. This approach is potentially problematic given the underlying assumption that purely mechanical factors cause whiplash – an unproven theory. To date, the effects of head restraints on injury reduction appear to have been small, in the range of 5-10%, as car seats have become stiffer to increase the safety of cars in high-speed rear-end collisions, which in turn could increase the risk of whiplash injuries in slow-moving rear-end collisions. Improving car seat geometry through better design and energy absorption could provide additional benefits. Active devices move the body in the event of an impact to move loads onto the car seat. [9] This table of contents is a navigation tool processed from the titles of the legal text of Federal Register documents. This repetition of titles to internal navigation links has no substantial legal effect.
Why are head restraints designed this way? Simply because the regulated specifications for head restraints are set for the “average” posture. While the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) revised the standard that governs head restraints for all new cars manufactured after 2008,[8][7] and established for the first time a requirement for the front rear position, or “backset”. The back requirements were set at a distance of 55 mm (2.1 inches) behind the head of the “average” posture. By definition, not everyone has the “average” attitude. The specifications will therefore pose problems for these 16% of the population. [7] Nevertheless, there are situations in which you want to remove a headrest; Especially those in the rear seat area of a vehicle. Is it legal to remove the rear head restraint? According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, it is not legal to remove head restraints from a vehicle. Police are unlikely to name a person for this violation, as it is usually not given much consideration.
However, it is highly recommended to keep the vehicle`s head restraints in place for safety benefits. I understand that sometimes head restraints have to be removed to fold the seats. Always make sure you keep track of where you store them and hand them over before you have passengers again. Interestingly, automakers are not required by law to install rear head restraints on the rear seats of a vehicle. However, you must install them on the front outboard seats of all cars since 1969. This mandate was extended to pickup trucks, vans and SUVs in 1991. Home » Tips and Info » Can rear head restraints be legally removed? The image above shows how most people have their headrests; I bet yours is like that. This is wrong and wrong. If you imagine that your head is forcibly pushed back in an accident, you can see that the head has plenty of space to whip back.
Your head touches the top of the headrest instead of the flat/front part it is supposed to touch. This can cause greater injuries than the accident itself and is responsible for many neck injuries. As you can see, this headrest should be pulled up at least six inches to the top of its head. That`s why it helps to have someone else help you do it in your car. Pfft. If there`s anything I`ve learned from TV and movies, it`s that if I want to talk to someone in the back seat, I have to remove the head restraints. You may have noticed that head restraints in vehicles are not the most convenient places to rest the dome. This is because head restraints are provided for safety rather than comfort. A head restraint can go a long way in preventing whiplash when the vehicle is driving in the rear.
I was so stunned by the shape of the headrests in my mom`s car because they were so uncomfortable. Instead of supporting the neck like a neck pillow, they are wedge-shaped, with the tip of the corner resting on your head. Second, most head restraints also have tilt adjustment, which tilts the headrest more toward your head. If the space between your head and headrest is as in the picture, your seat is probably too reclined. Head restraints (also known as head restraints) are a vehicle safety feature mounted or integrated at the top of each seat to limit the rearward movement of the adult occupant`s head relative to the torso in the event of a collision – to prevent or mitigate whiplash or injury to the cervical vertebrae. [1] [2] Since their mandatory introduction in some countries beginning in the late 1960s, head restraints have prevented or mitigated thousands of serious injuries. [2] The seat head restraint can generally be adjusted upwards and downwards (height) and tilted forward and backward. How do you use these adjustments correctly? Adjust them so that there is little or no space between the back of the head and the headrest. Most of the people I see have their headrests pushed up to the seat. Not only is this usually wrong, but it can actually cause you additional damage in the event of an accident.
For non-regulatory questions, please contact Louis Molino of the Office of Safety Performance Standards, Vehicle Crashworthiness Standards, Light Vehicle Division, NPS-11 (tel: 202-366-2264; Fax: 202-366-4329; Email: lmolino@nhtsa.dot.gov). Recently, a friend of mine bought a used car from a large group of dealers. She was super excited about the car, and rightly so. She brought it to show me, and I asked where the rear head restraints were. She said the merchant told her that when he came in, he didn`t have it. We talked about their importance, and I advised us to call the dealership to have them replaced. Shocking, the trader said, there was “nothing he could do since it hadn`t been negotiated in advance.” These markup elements allow the user to see how the document follows the document writing manual that agencies use to create their documents. These can be useful for better understanding how a document is structured, but are not part of the published document itself. 7. The reset retention test ensures that the head restraint remains in position when the head is pushed back, such as in an accident.
Following the publication of the document in May 2007, the development of the gtr for head restraints continued successfully. It was adopted in March 2008 by a vote of the World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations (WP.29). The United States voted in favour of its adoption. Prior to the February 14, 2008 vote, NHTSA published a Request for Comment [4] on the RTM in the Federal Register (73 FR 8743) to inform its decision on the vote. The petition is added to the list. Anyone can search the electronic form of all documents received in one of our documents by the name of the person submitting the document (or signs the document if it is submitted on behalf of an association, company, union, etc.). The Ministry of Transportation`s full privacy statement is available in the Federal Register, published April 11, 2000 (Volume 65, Number 70; Pages 19477-78). We note that the Agency has anticipated that there may be advanced designs that, due to their active nature, are unable to meet the static testing requirements of page 67241 of domestic pressure in their undeployed positions. For this reason, the Dynamic Compliance option has been provided.
Kongsberg`s first head of claim (part 6.1 of its application) relates to the particular nature in which an active mechanical head restraint should be attached for the purposes of the static restraint test.