Toyota’s whiplash injury lessening (WIL) system

Sensors detect inevitability of a crash then deploy a razor-sharp blade from the headrest which slices the head of the driver off cleanly and deposits it neatly in his lap thereby averting any nasty whiplash. :lol:

Sorry I can't really answer your question (it's the first I've ever heard of WIL) but I couldn't pass up the opportunity for that joke.

 

I 'd imagine that new head restraints fall backward at a controlled rate in a rear impact. Curious that they'd move forward to follow the flexion of the neck in order to shorten the noggin(from Grey's Anaotmy-1st edition) travels in recoil. Check their websites.

I've treated 10,000s of patients with "whiplash" aka, cervical hyperflexion-extesion sprain/strain, and it is a real injury easily visible on Xray and flouroscopy in spite of all the Grishamesque sleazy lawyer jokes about it. Kudos for someone finally trying to minimze the effects. People have been killed in a 12mph impact from it.

 

Whiplash Injury Lessening (WIL)

Toyota front seats incorporate a "Whiplash Injury Lessening" design to help minimize the risk of neck whiplash injuries to upper vertebrae in low-speed rear end collisions. WIL seatback frames are carefully designed to yield in a controlled fashion in rear-end crashes to reduce the forward acceleration of occupants' torsos. This design feature helps lessen the differential motion of head and torso, which is the cause of whiplash. As part of Toyota's commitment to leading safety research, WIL seats were first developed using computer aided design, and then tested in real life crash situations.