Requiring them "because XXX did it" is foolish. First of all, contact the Norwegian rally club and find out their reasoning. If they say they tested the devices for rally (as I have outlined) then great...go for it. If they (as I suspect) are throwing water on a fire (not knowing if its a wood or gas fire), then let's do the research and figure it out.
I'll help you. Here are the titles that Rally America/NASA needs to buy from SAE asap to learn if they don't own them already. Go to
www.sae.org for most:
SAE-2004-01-3516 2004
Sled Test Evaluation of Racecar Head/Neck Restraints Revisited
Melvin, John W. Wayne State Univ.
SAE-2004-01-3513 2004
Race Car Nets for the Control of Neck Forces in Side Impacts
Tom Gideon General Motors Corp. - General Motors Racing
SAE-2002-01-3351 2002
Integration of HANS device within Formula One
Mellor, Andrew Transport Research Laboratory
SAE-2002-01-3306 2002
The use of dashpots in the prevention of basilar skull fractures
Baker, Gregg General Technical Properties
SAE-2002-01-3304 2002
Sled test evaluation of racecar head/neck restraints
Melvin, John W. Wayne State Univ.
SAE-2001-01-2659 2001
Importance of seat and head restraint positions in reducing head-neck injuries
Mehta, Bhavin V. Ohio Univ.
629.231 V61 2002
Role of the seat in rear crash safety
Viano, David C
629.23 M91 1998 V.1 1998
Predicting the response of a CART car driver in a crash using mathematical modeling
Weerappuli, D. P. V.
629.2136 S79 1994 1994
A three - dimensional head - neck model Validation for frontal and lateral impacts
de Jager, M. Sauren, A. Thunnissen, J. Wismans, J.
629.23 M91 V.1 1994
Mathematical simulation of driver and restraint systems in racing saloon car impacts
Grant, Matthew
Clarke, T.D., Smedley, D.C., Muzzy, W.H., Gragg, C.D.,
Schmidt, R.E., and Trout, E.M., ?Impact Tolerance and
Resulting Injury Patterns in the Baboon: Air Force Shoulder
Harness- Lap Belt Restraint?, ?, Proceedings of the
16th Stapp Car Crash Conference. Society of Automotive
Engineers, November 1972, SAE 720974.
Gideon, T.W., Streetz, L.M., Willhite, S., and Melvin,
J.W., ?ATD Neck Tension Comparison for Various Sled
Pulses?, 2002 Motor Sports Engineering Conference
Proceedings, Society of Automotive Engineers, December
2002, Paper No. 2002-01-3324
Gramling, H., Hodgman, P., and Hubbard, R., ?Development
of the HANS Head and Neck Support for Formula
One?, 1998 Motor Sports Engineering Conference
Proceedings, Society of Automotive Engineers, December
1998, SAE 983060
Hopper, R.H., McElhaney, J.H., and Myers, B.S., ?Mandibular
and Basilar Skull Fracture Tolerance?, Proceedings
of the 38th Stapp Car Crash Conference. Society of
Automotive Engineers, November 1994, SAE 942213
Melvin, J.W., Little, W.C., Jedrzejczak, E.A., and Pierce,
J., ?Racing Car Restraint System Frontal Crash Performance
Testing?, 1994 Motor Sports Engineering Conference
Proceedings. Vol. 1: Vehicle Design Issues, Society
of Automotive Engineers, P-287, December 1994,
pp. 73 ? 80, SAE 942482
Melvin, J.W., Baron, K.J., Little, W.C. Gideon, T.W. and
Pierce, J., ?Biomechanical Analysis of Indy Race Car
Crashes?, Proceedings of the 42nd Stapp Car Crash
Conference. Society of Automotive Engineers, November
1998, pp. 247-266, SAE 983161.
Melvin, J.W., Bock, H, Anderson, K, and Gideon, T, ?Development
and Field Performance of Indy Race Car
Head Impact Padding?, Stapp Car Crash Journal, Vol.45
(November 2001), pp. 415-436, The Stapp Association,
Paper No. 2001-22-0019.
Melvin, J.W., Begeman, P.C., and Foster, C.D., ?Sled
Test Evaluation of Racecar Head/Neck Restraints?, 2002
Motor Sports Engineering Conference Proceedings, Society
of Automotive Engineers, December 2002, Paper
No. 2002-01-3304
Mertz, H.J., ?Anthropomorphic Test Devices?, Chapter 4
in Accidental Injury: Biomechanics and Prevention, edited
by A.H. Nahum and J.W. Melvin ? 2nd Edition,
Springer-Verlag, New York, 2002
Thomas, D.J. and Jessop, M.E., ?Experimental Head
and Neck Injury from Inertial Forces?, Chapter 12 in
Mechanisms of Head and Spine Trauma, edited by
Sances, A., Thomas, D.J., Ewing, C.L., Larson, S.J., and
Unterharnscheidt, F., Aloray Publisher, Goshen, NY,
1981
Knee-jerk reactions to unfortunate events are not the answer. Reasoned, educated decisions weighed on our likely usage is in order.