%0 Journal Article
%T IIHS head restraint ratings and insurance injury claim rates
%J Traffic injury prevention
%D 2016
%A Trempel, Rebecca E.
%A Zuby, David S.
%A Edwards, Marcy A.
%V 17
%N 6
%P 590-596
%X OBJECTIVES: The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety 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 if 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. <br><br>METHODS: The presence of an associated insurance injury claim was determined for rear-impact crashes using 2001-14 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. <br><br>RESULTS: Injury rates were 11.2 percent lower for vehicles with seats/head restraints rated good compared with vehicles with seats/head restraints rated poor. The percent 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. <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: 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.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>
%G en
%I Informa - Taylor and Francis Group
%@ 1538-9588
%U http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15389588.2015.1128534