Investigation of Whiplash Injury in Korea

Whiplash injuries due to automotive collisions have occupied a major portion of the insurance claims in Korea and other nations. In this study, a survey of head restraint use in the field was performed by measuring the positions of head restraints in 1,100 passenger vehicles in the downtown and outskirts areas of Seoul. Using an international protocol published by the Research Council for Automobile Repairs (RCAR), 19% of the measured head restraint positions were evaluated as “good” and 36% were evaluated as “poor”. This result differentiates a recent report of the improvement in design of head restraints geometry and reveals that motorists are not appropriately utilizing head restraints. Statistical analysis of the survey results revealed valid correlations between the measurements and subjective questions. Simulations with various parameters such as impact speed, direction and head restraint positions were also performed utilizing an FE human model. The results from this sensitivity study revealed that poor HR position had great adverse effects on neck injury potentials (e.g. high NIC values). Findings in this investigation provide more understanding of whiplash injuries from the practical point of view and serve to introduce the countermeasures in vehicle design.