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The findings of an international survey of 148 new vehicles released jointly today by NRMA Insurance, SGIC and SGIO shows seven out of 10 new cars scored well, compared with three out of 10 five years ago when testing began.
NRMA Insurance head of research Robert McDonald praises the improvements, but says head restraints in nearly 30 per cent of new cars tested still rate as ‘marginal’ or ‘poor’, with commercial vehicles among the worst.
"Unfortunately there does seem to be a trend to skip on safety features in commercial vehicles," he says. However, he says Volvo and Saab had made significant improvements in head restraint design.
Volvo has seats which support the driver or passengers' entire back and head and in a rear-end collision the back rest moves forward for support, he said.
Ford Falcon FG was the best locally produced performer achieving a ‘good’ rating, coming on the back of its five-star ANCAP crash rating.
McDonald says that, based on NRMA Insurance/SGIO/SGIC claims data, whiplash cost the Australian community hundreds of millions of dollars a year. He encourages new car buyers to take safety into consideration when purchasing a car.
Only 18 per cent of Queensland consumers make safety their top consideration when choosing a car, although most rank it in their top three, while other states fare barely better at 19 per cent for Western Australia, 20 per cent for NSW and 27 per cent for SA.
McDonald says better head restraint design could reduce the risk of a neck injuries in a crash, but passengers should adjust them correctly.
The head restraint research was conducted and funded by NRMA Insurance, SGIC and SGIO in Australia, Thatcham Motor Insurance Research Centre in the UK and the American Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
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