Quote:
Originally Posted by bendrick
Just checked my 2003 registered embossed ones.
Don't budge an inch.
I did read somewhere some time ago that the headrests are not there to rest your head on as a comfort option but as a preventative for your head snapping right back and breaking your neck in an abrupt stop / accident.
I suppose that it could be argued that if there wasn't a slight gap between your head and the head rest the above scenario would be even more lessened but who am I to judge these things?
On the other hand I might just have dreamt reading about the whole accident thing and its all a load of rubbish.
Maybe others have read similar.
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the name headrests, is shortened from head restraints
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They are designed to stop the head (as you say) from being thrown backwards immediately after an impact. There are many many websites I am sure that will show what happens exactly, however, in an impact, you will be thrown forward by x amount of G. Therefore your head suddenly weighs many times more than it does at rest, and will be thrown backwards at a multiplied rate. Also online, I have seen various diagrams on how to position the head restraint correctly to limit the movement. The setting I preferred in an old car of mine, apparently was quite dangerous, as it would have forced my head to slide upwards in a heavy impact (although better than with no restraint lol).
If it is at a high enough rate (which can be as little as 2G if I recall, which means your head weighs twice as much as it does now), you can be technically decapitated. Internal decapitation I believe it is known as, effectively, your skull is removed from the spinal column. This is occasionally survivable, 20-30% if I recall.