CAR HEADRESTS AS EMERGENCY ESCAPE TOOLS - Car headrests were designed for resting heads. Any other use is incidental to their intended purpose. Car headrests can be used as tools to break vehicle windows in emergencies. Car headrests were not designed to serve this function. In April 2016, a message circulated on Facebook that car seat headrests were deliberately designed to be detachable and sturdy so that they could be used to break car windows in emergencies. This “survival tip” has been around for several years and has been featured in a number of survival blogs, but it gained widespread popularity when it was featured on a Japanese game show. While it is possible to break a car window with a removable headrest, this is an incidental application of that object rather than a deliberate one. The primary intended function of the modern car headrest was to prevent whiplash in case of accident: When Benjamin Katz filed a patent for an automobile headrest in 1921, he noted that the device could stabilize the head when it was subjected to the “jolts and irregular movements” inherent in driving an automobile. The car headrest has since gone through many changes, but these primarily focus on safety, comfort, and manufacturing, not emergency uses. Regulations from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration regarding head restraints also focus on reducing or preventing whiplash, not breaking windows.

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Car Headrests As Emergency Escape Tools

Were Car Headrests Designed as Emergency Escape Tools?

Car headrests were designed for resting heads. Any other use is incidental to their intended purpose.

DAN EVON

Claim

Car headrests were deliberately designed to be removed so that they can be used to smash windows during emergencies.

What's True

Car headrests can be used as tools to break vehicle windows in emergencies.

What's False

Car headrests were not designed to serve this function.

Origin

In April 2016, a message circulated on Facebook affirming that car seat headrests were deliberately designed to be detachable and sturdy so that they could be used to break car windows in emergencies:

This “survival tip” has been around for several years and has been featured in a number of survival blogs, but it gained widespread popularity in 2012 when it was featured on a Japanese game show:

https://youtu.be/tZTa8Nh0VlE

While it is possible to break a car window with a removable headrest, this is an incidental application of that object rather than a deliberate one.

The primary intended function of the modern car headrest was to prevent whiplash in case of accident: When Benjamin Katz filed a patent for an automobile headrest in 1921, he noted that the device could stabilize the head when it was subjected to the “jolts and irregular movements” inherent in driving an automobile.

The car headrest has since gone through many changes, but these primarily focus on safety, comfort, and manufacturing, not emergency uses.

Regulations from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration regarding head restraints also focus on reducing or preventing whiplash, not breaking windows. 

A NHTSA and Department of Transportation ruling in 2004 revisited the standards, specifically addressing “Maximum Gap Allowance and Removability“:

Nissan asserted that there are potential production difficulties arising from front head restraint non-removability.

Installing a large seat fitted with a head restraint into a small vehicle, Nissan asserted, might be an arduous task.

Honda wanted all restraints to be removable by hand, out of concern that non-removable head restraints would limit seat design flexibility.

Honda believed that a non-removability prohibition would prevent it from offering the “fully flat seat” option in its CRV model vehicle.

DaimlerChrysler concurred with making front seat head restraints more difficult to remove than rear seat restraints because of their safety benefits and the absence of a need to remove them for visibility and functionality reasons.

DaimlerChrysler also agreed that there should be some means to remove front head restraints for purposes such as seat cover installation.

However, DaimlerChrysler wanted the word “tool” to be interpreted as including the mechanism in their current vehicles requiring two hands to operate.

A majority of industry commenters wanted NHTSA to allow removability of rear head restraints in the final rule.

Ford believed that removability of rear head restraints would allow occupants to fold seats to increase space and would reduce possible incompatibility with child restraints.

Ford stated that while many vehicles are currently designed with head restraints that are removable by hand, Ford does not know of any data regarding misuse or improper adjustment of head restraints caused by hand removability.

DaimlerChrysler believed that NHTSA should permit rear seat head restraint removability to facilitate increased vehicle utility and rearward visibility.

Agency response to comments on head restraint removability: After considering comments, NHTSA decided to allow removability of head restraints solely by hand.

However, for both front and rear optional head restraints, removal must be by means of a deliberate action that is distinct from any act necessary for adjustment.

That is, the “action” required for removal must be distinct from that required for adjustment.

For example, the head restraint may be removed by depressing a special button or operating a lever located somewhere on the head restraint or the seat back.

However, the action involved in adjusting head restraints must be different.

This insures that head restraints are not accidentally removed when being adjusted. The new removability requirement uses language very similar to that in ECE 17, Paragraph 5.13.

We are establishing the new head restraint requirements to ensure that vehicle occupants receive better protection from whiplash and related injuries.

To achieve this purpose, the agency wants to take reasonable steps to increase the likelihood that a head restraint is available when needed.

If head restraints were too easily removable, chances are greater that they will be removed.

That, in turn, increases the chances that the restraints might not be reinstalled correctly, if at all.

By prohibiting removability without the use of deliberate action distinct from any act necessary for adjustment, the likelihood of inadvertent head restraint removal will be reduced, thus increasing the chances that vehicle occupants will receive the benefits of properly positioned head restraints.

The ability to break windows in case of emergency was not mentioned anywhere in this discussion, and the major industry concerns appeared to be visibility and whiplash prevention.

Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 202 does not require automakers to manufacture head restraints specifically so that they can be used to break windows in emergencies.

While some can potentially be used that way, they are not designed with that specific purpose in mind.

BY DAN EVON

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MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY - Why Do Ships And Airplanes Use The Term ‘Mayday’ When They’re In Danger? - Mayday calls are transmitted in life-threatening situations. Mayday is a special word used as a distress signal in radio communication by mariners and aviators all over the world. If a ship/aircraft faces immediate danger that could be life-threatening to the crew and passengers, the radio operators onboard will broadcast a Mayday signal to request help. Although it’s typically known to be used by the crew of ships and aircraft, there are some countries whose local government organizations, such as police, fire safety department, and transportation authorities also use Mayday as a distress signal to express an imminent threat to life. The word ‘Mayday’ must be said loud and clear three times in a row, followed by the call sign and type of ship/aircraft, location details, type of emergency and its severity, the number of persons onboard and any other vital piece of information that the transmitter considers to be important enough to be relayed. Note that it’s necessary to repeat the word Mayday three times in a row so that it cannot be confused with a similar-sounding phrase by the receiver.

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Mayday calls are transmitted in life-threatening situations.

Mayday Mayday Mayday

Why Do Ships And Airplanes Use The Term ‘Mayday’ When They’re In Danger?

Ashish 

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for years, you’ve likely heard the term Mayday, especially in critical situations involving ships and aircraft.

Have you ever wondered what the story is behind this unusual word? I mean, it’s not even a proper English word, right?

Why do sailors/pilots use this word when their ship is about to sink or when their aircraft has experienced a critical technical snag that could bring them down?

What’s wrong with using English words like ‘help’ or ‘danger’ instead?

Does it have anything to do with a day in the month of May, or is it just another term in aviation/maritime jargon without a definite meaning that just stuck?

Short answer: The term Mayday is derived from a French term ‘m’aidez‘, which basically means ‘help me’.

What is ‘Mayday’?

Mayday is a special word used as a distress signal in radio communication by mariners and aviators all over the world.

If a ship/aircraft faces immediate danger that could be life-threatening to the crew and passengers, the radio operators onboard will broadcast a Mayday signal to request help.

Although it’s typically known to be used by the crew of ships and aircraft, there are some countries whose local government organizations, such as police, fire safety department, and transportation authorities also use Mayday as a distress signal to express an imminent threat to life.

What’s the story behind the word ‘Mayday’?

The word ‘Mayday’ might, quite understandably, lead one to believe that it has something to do with a particular day in the month of May, but let me assure you that it’s not even distantly related to springtime.

The word Mayday is actually an anglicization, or in simple words, the English approximation of a French phrase “m’aidez” or “m’aider”, which literally means ‘help me’.

It’s said to have originated with a senior radio officer at Croydon Airport in London named Frederick Stanley Mockford in 1923.

He was asked to come up with a word that could be used in distress signals that could easily be understood by all pilots and support staff at airports.

Since much of the air traffic at that point was between Croydon and Le Bourget Airport in Paris, he proposed the word “m’aider”, which is actually a shortened version of “venez m’aider”.

The term was well-received by users and was consequently adopted as the standard voice call in place of SOS (an international Morse code distress signal that was previously in use) by the International Radiotelegraph Convention of Washington in 1927.

Today, the term ‘Mayday’ has become synonymous with imminent peril or a life-threatening situation.

How is a Mayday call transmitted over radio?

Have you ever noticed in movies/TV shows depicting a ‘Mayday situation’ in a ship or plane that they never just say “Mayday, our ship has developed a major leak” or “Mayday, both our main engines have failed”?

This is because there’s a particular, predefined way in which a Mayday signal needs to be transmitted.

The word ‘Mayday’ must be said loud and clear three times in a row, followed by the call sign and type of ship/aircraft, location details, type of emergency and its severity, the number of persons onboard and any other vital piece of information that the transmitter considers to be important enough to be relayed.

For more clarification, here is a distress message format released by the US Coast Guard.

Note that it’s necessary to repeat the word Mayday three times in a row so that it cannot be confused with a similar-sounding phrase by the receiver.

Also, it helps any potential receivers to confidently know that it’s an actual Mayday call and not a message about a Mayday call.

If a ship cannot send a Mayday signal due to problems with its radio system, a Mayday relay can also be transmitted by another ship on its behalf.

Here’s a real-life example of a mayday call made by MV Summit Venture when it collided with the Sunshine Skyway Bridge in 1980, resulting in its collapse.

A very important thing to remember about making a Mayday call is that it could land you in prison and burn a large hole in your pockets if it’s not a legitimate emergency!

Yes, that’s right. Making a false Mayday call is a federal crime in the US and could result in you being incarcerated for 6 six years and/or having to pay a fine of up to $250,000, as well as restitution to the Coast Guard.

In other words, don’t radio a Mayday signal just because a tap in the kitchenette onboard your boat stopped working; doing that might land you in some real trouble!

Ashish is a Science graduate (Bachelor of Science) from Punjabi University (India). He spends a lot of time watching movies, and an awful lot more time discussing them. He likes Harry Potter and the Avengers, and obsesses over how thoroughly Science dictates every aspect of life… in this universe, at least.

https://www.scienceabc.com/eyeopeners/why-do-ships-and-airplanes-use-the-term-mayday-when-theyre-in-danger.html