Safety: You now have a choice (at almost every price range)

With improvements in seat and head restraint design for protection against whiplash injuries drivers now have an even wider choice of seats to protect their necks, thanks to Thatcham's continued testing of vehicle seats. However small cars still do not offer enough protection — and they need it most.

With environmental and cost pressures becoming ever greater, very small or City cars are becoming increasingly popular. City cars are designed for the urban environment and spend the majority of their time in traffic — and this is where most whiplash injuries occur, due to low speed shunts. But no City cars have a seat and head restraint rated as 'GOOD' for protection against whiplash injuries, even though these are some of the latest designs. These cars need the best protection because they are smaller and lighter and more susceptible to high forces in a rear end crash. These City cars are not equipped to protect their occupants' necks when they have to absorb the crash energy from larger, heavier vehicles.

The only two City cars to achieve an 'ACCEPTABLE' rating were the Renault Twingo and the Smart Fortwo. The majority of the other nine City cars were rated as 'MARGINAL', with the current Ford Ka and Fiat Panda rated as 'POOR'. Even the recently released Fiat 500 — new for 2008 — only achieved a 'MARGINAL' rating.

Fiat 500: MARGINAL

Neck protection is not much better in the class above. Two thirds of the Supermini cars were rated as 'MARGINAL' or 'POOR'. Renault is leading the way with the Clio and Modus seats rated as 'GOOD'.

Renault Clio: GOOD

For Small and Large Family cars, such as the Ford Focus or Mondeo, the situation is better. Over two thirds of these have seats rated as 'GOOD' or 'ACCEPTABLE'. For the SUVs and Executive cars the majority of seats rate as 'GOOD'. Examples are the Peugeot 4007 and the BMW 5-Series. Buyers seeking a 'GOOD' rated seat for whiplash protection now have a wider choice than ever. But they are forced to spend more in order to achieve protection from a minor crash.

BMW 5 Series: GOOD

2008 Model Year

Thatcham has been testing seats since 2004 for their ability to protect the occupant from whiplash injuries. The 2008 Model Year testing again confirms manufacturers from around the globe are listening to Thatcham and introducing new seat designs that can protect their occupants from whiplash injuries. Now over one third of all new seats are rated as 'GOOD'. Only 16% are rated as 'POOR' and these are mostly older designs due for replacement.

Most improved seat

For the last three years of Thatcham testing, BMW seats have never achieved a 'GOOD' rating. In Model Year 2008, BMW have finally achieved a 'GOOD' rating for the new 5-Series, X3 and X5 seats demonstrating that they have finally begun to accept the importance of whiplash protection. BMW now join Mercedes and Audi in offering their drivers protection from whiplash injury.

5-Series seat with Pro-Active Head Restraint achieves a GOOD rating