Even in the early days of Saab aircraft engineering, it was clear that one of the primary responsibilities of the plane was to get the pilot home again safely. Saab incorporated that same focus on safety into their automotive designs. They used thicker steel, were one of the first to incorporate side intrusion beams, had the first standard equipment seat belts. The list goes on.
The following is a press piece from Saab about their active head restraints. Another safety innovation from Saab.
–
The highly regarded American medical publication Journal of Trauma devoted a large part of its November 2001 issue to the SAHR, the Saab Active Head Restraint. The magazine has in particular reviewed the inquiry which shows that the device, fitted to the front seats, reduces the risk of severe neck injuries in rear-end collisions by 75 percent. The analysis rests on a comparative study between the Saab 900 and 9000, which have standard neck guards, and the newer models Saab 9-3 and 9-5, which are equipped with the SAHR.
The Journal of Trauma has run a comparative scrutiny of the study, its methods and its results. The conclusion is that the SAHR represents a real breakthrough in the field of protection in the event of rear-end collisions. Even though the earlier Saab models have seats that are ranked among the best on the market, the SAHR reduces the risk of severe neck injuries by a further 75 percent.
“In light of our laboratory tests we expected to see neck injuries declining by around thirty percent. Now that a couple of years have passed, enabling us to carry out a study of the findings from actual service, it has emerged that the reality is better than that”, says Stefan Olsén, development engineer in Saab’s Collision-Safety Department.
The inquiry was conducted on the basis of accident data from the insurance company DIAL. The drivers of the crashed cars answered a questionnaire and were interviewed by telephone. Besides a marked decline in neck injuries, it was found that none of the SAHR-equipped seats had needed to be replaced or repaired after the accidents.
The modus operandi of the SAHR is that the body is pressed into the backrest of the seat, thereby activating a mechanism that causes the head restraint to snap upwards and forwards, arresting the rapid motion of the head that is produced by a collision from behind and minimizing the relative movement between the head and the lower part of the neck. In this way the device also helps to make up for the fact that many people ride around with their neck guards wrongly adjusted.
“When such a prestigious organ as the Journal of Trauma confirms our findings it marks a great success for our work on collision safety. It’s also evidence that our Real-Life Safety philosophy is sound and that we’re doing the right thing when we compare our laboratory trials with what subsequently happens on the roads. Good laboratory tests are all very well, but absolutely the most important thing for us is that our safety systems work properly in real-life accidents”, says Stefan Olsén.
