Top rating for Saab active head restraints

Seat performance is classified as "Poor", "Marginal", "Acceptable" or "Good, with the Saab 9-3 Sport Sedan being rated as "Good". This excellent result for the Saab 9-3 Sport Sedan comes just one month after it received the "Best Pick" nomination in a side collision test by the American IIHS (Insurance Institute for Highway Safety). The front seats in Saab 9-3 Sport Sedan come as standard with Saab's active head restraint (SAHR), which has been developed to reduce the relative movement between head and lower back in a rear-end impact.

The head restraint is mounted at the top of a frame inside the seat-back which pivots at its mid point. In a rear-end impact, the occupant's lower back comes into contact with the bottom portion of the seat-back. The upper half of the frame which, carries the head restraint, moves upwards and forwards, catching the occupant's head, thus helping to minimize the amount of whiplash movement.

"The major tests of head restraints that are now performed by Thatcham and similar organisations in other countries, such as the US and Germany, show that the pioneering work carried out by Saab is now bearing fruit," says Fadi Ghosn, Regional Marketing Manager for Premium Brands, General Motors Middle East. "Although a rear-end collision seldom results in life-threatening injury, it is the kind of accident that can cause permanent injuries and unnecessary suffering. The latest tests confirm the results that Saab and others, such as the Swedish insurance company Folksam, have recorded in impartial tests."

Thatcham's test consists of two sections, one geometrical and one dynamic. In the first part, the position of the head restraint, relative to position of the head, is measured on a crash test dummy representing a mid-sized grown-up man. A crash test is then performed with a seat mounted on a sled. A "BioRID" dummy is used which has been developed co-operatively by Chalmer's Technical University of Sweden, Saab Automobile, Volvo and Autoliv for this purpose.