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Whiplash Protection Pioneer Lotta Jakobsson at Volvo Cars gets NHTSA Safety Award

 

Dr. Lotta Jakobsson, safety expert at Volvo Cars, has been honored with the “Safety Engineering Excellence” award by NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) in the United States.

 

The jury’s motivation: “For her outstanding contributions in extending the biomechanics knowledge and improving vehicle safety design, Dr Jakobsson is recognized with this award.” Lotta Jakobsson is internationally recognized as an impact trauma biomechanics expert and has made significant and pioneering contributions both to traffic injury research and to the design of new safety systems in Volvo cars.

 

Driving force in whiplash protection development

First and foremost, she has been the driving force in the research on whiplash injuries. This includes the development of Volvo Cars’ Whiplash Protection System (WHIPS), which is standard in all new Volvo models. Independent studies have recently confirmed a 30-60% reduction of the occurrence of whiplash injuries in vehicles equipped with WHIPS. Dr Jakobsson also headed the development of a new crash test dummy for this complex accident type. Lotta Jakobsson has been working for Volvo Cars since 1989. At the moment, she is leading the team of Safety Analysis & Research within Volvo Cars Safety Centre.

 

Ph D (Doctor of Philosophy) in 2004

Her thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, entitled ”Whiplash associated disorders in frontal and rear-end car impacts, Biomechanical guidelines and evaluation criteria based on accident data and occupant modeling", was published and presented February 2004.

 

July 2005

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