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Whiplash Injuries And Airbags

New airbag design could cut whiplash injuries

Ford is to release a new Focus in 2012. Alongside its impressive roster of safety precautions, the airbag design looks set to help reduce the potential for whiplash injury. According to Ford, their new airbags will be fitted as standard equipment on all Ford Focus 2012 models, before being offered to other vehicles in the Ford range. But what is it that makes these airbags so special?

Most whiplash injuries occur as the result of a rear impact collision. In absorbing the kinetic energy of the car behind, the driver and passengers are thrown first forward and then back. Even at low speeds this momentum causes the head and neck to hyperextend and to hyper-flex, meaning that they extend far beyond their usual range of movement and at a velocity that the human body is not designed for. The bones in the spine are forced to stretch and the surrounding soft tissue consisting of nerves, muscles, tendons and ligaments can over-stretch, bruise or even tear. This whip-like motion can result in a number of symptoms, ranging from headaches and neck pain to loss of feeling in the extremities, blurred vision and restricted mobility.

What’s Wrong With The Old Airbags?

While most cars are fitted with head rests, which help to interrupt the motion that causes whiplash, part of the problem lies with a car’s airbags. Airbags inflate in response to an impact, but they tend to over-impact on the driver or passenger’s chest, causing the forward motion of whiplash to become even more exaggerated. In addition, airbags do not compensate for the different weights of different people, working on a ‘one size fits all’ supposition. However, Ford has employed ‘adaptive technology’ to create airbags that respond to whoever is in the seat at the time.

Nicolas Jervis, Managing Director of personal injury specialists, 1stClaims, is impressed with the design. He says: “Ford is now setting a new benchmark in safety features, offering advanced protection for front seat occupants. Anything that uses technological advances to save the pain caused by a whiplash injury is a huge step forward.”

The driver's front airbag features a “reconfigured curve-shaped tether system that pulls in the lower section to create a 'pocket' to help lessen the impact of the airbag on the driver's chest and ribs in frontal crashes. In addition, the passenger front airbag has a pyrotechnically-operated adaptative venting system which reduces airbag pressure when it has been sufficiently inflated to protect the occupant. These systems use computer sensors to discern the position and height of the people in the front seats and the pressure used to ‘catch’ them is changed accordingly. It will require more pressure to catch a taller person than it will a shorter one.

Intelligent Technology

Nicolas Jervis believes that; “this sort of intelligent technology can help to prevent whiplash injury. By using the correct force to interrupt the forward motion of the head and neck, there is less likelihood of them being forced backwards at great speed. It tends to be the backward motion of the head that causes the most amount of injury in a whiplash situation. In identifying an often-overlooked aspect of whiplash injury, Ford could be paving the way to saving thousands of motorists from pain and misery each year.”

You Need To Know More Vital Information About Whiplash?

For more vital information that you really should know please download our free Essential Guide To Whiplash. It will tell you:

What "No Win No Fee" really means and how to ensure you do not get caught out
Whether a Claims Company or a Solicitor is the right choice for you
What does it mean if you have Legal Expense Insurance (and do you have to use the solicitor that they tell you too if you do not want to)?
How to obtain private treatment for your injuries at no cost to you
How to quickly obtain a replacement car or motorcycle if you need to
Why accepting an offer directly from the other driver's insurance company could cost you thousands of pounds and lead to longterm injury problems

There is no cost so please complete your details below now and we will immediately send you the guide.

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