A new neck injury criterion (IV-NIC) was developed. It was based on this hypothesis: A neck injury occurs when an intervettebral rotation exceeds its physiological limit during whiplash. An instrumented artificial cervical spine, incorporating human quantitative anatomy, kinematics and kinetics, was constructed. Twelve experiments were performed at 3 T1-accelerations and 4 initiarl head-headrest gaps. In general, IV-NIC and NIC increased with T1-accelerations. Both IV-NIC and NIC were highest at middle gap value. IV-NIC indicated severity, location and mode of injury. This comprehensive injury information is helpful in designing whiplash injury prevention systems, and for diagnosis and treatment of whiplash injuries.