The UK's Motor Insurance Repair Research Centre at Thatcham has found that small city cars offer little protection against whiplash injury in their recent testing.
Of the city cars tested none received a ‘good' rating and only two received a ‘satisfactory' rating.
These cars are often chosen by city drivers for their environmental advantages when used in high traffic situations, but it is during high density traffic periods where whiplash injury occurs most frequently and this has been a source of concern for the research centre.
It is the seat design that is at fault, as these cars are designed to be light, but when impacted from behind the lighter seats offer less protection against neck injury than those in higher end family cars. A Thatcham spokesperson commented, "These city cars are not equipped to protect their occupants' necks when they have to absorb the crash energy from larger, heavier vehicles." It should therefore be a priority for the manufacturers of these small urban vehicles to improve safety aspects of their car seat design in order to prevent whiplash injury in the event of a car accident.
*A replacement vehicle can usually be supplied within 4-6 working hours, where there is an admission of liability from the other person’s insurance company. If this person is not known, their insurance details are not known, they are uninsured or there is a potential dispute over who caused the accident, a replacement vehicle cannot be provided.
