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, Fri, 1 Dec 2000 09:58:06
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From the sounds of the extent of the damage to your Saab, you owe thanks to the Saab engineers who designed the seat you were in. In most other cars, the seat back would have broken and thrown you into the back seat, head first. This results in a broken neck if the collision is serious enough.
I have investigated hundreds of crashes, and in significant rear end collisions, a great percentage of the population is at risk of spinal injury and paralysis from wimpy seat backs. The Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) for seat back strength is based on an old evaluation to keep the seat back from breaking when you reach for your wallet. I have tested lawn chairs that meet the minimum standard. Obviously, when a car is pushed suddenly forward, as if it were to be shoved out from underneath you, something in the car has to push the driver along to the new, post-crash speed. In essence, the seat back becomes your seat belt in a rear-end collision. If the seat back can't exert enough force to push the driver forward with the car, he is left behind with a severely reclined seatback that bends or breaks at the pivot. Laid out flat on the seat, the driver is pushed along by the back seat on his head, usually over-compressing and flexing the neck to the point of spinal fracture and potential paralysis.
Saab seats that I have tested for this are typically built to over 6 (SIX) times the minimum Federal Standard, and offer protection from bending backward in a far greater number of rear end collisions. The driver must, however, play a part in getting the most out of this protection by adjusting the head restraint so that the top of the head rest is above the top of his ear.
You may have seen a recent network news 3-part series on seat back failures, and watch for 20/20 to do a follow up in the near future.
This is just one of the areas that Saab enhanced for safety since 1986 that most Japanese and domestic automakers have not caught up with YET.
, Fri, 1 Dec 2000 09:58:06, Fri, 1 Dec 2000 14:14:55, Fri, 1 Dec 2000 12:42:29, Fri, 1 Dec 2000 10:35:07
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