Existing neck scale factors to determine injury assessment reference values for the pediatric one, three and six year old, and the 5th percentile female populations are based on extrapolations from the adult 50th percentile male and tensile strength data from the calcaneal tendon. The research question addressed in this study is as follows. What are the scale factors and resulting neck tolerances for these age-specific populations if data from human spinal components and neck geometry are used.3 The analysis included the determination of scale factors under extension, tension, compression, and flexion loading modes as a function of age, i.e., one, three and six year old, and the 5th percentile female groups. Variations in the biomechanical properties of each spinal component (e.g., vertebra, disc, ligament, cartilage, muscle, spinal cord) were determined from human cadaver studies. Active spinal components were identified under each of the four loading modes and relationships were established for each component to obtain material-based scale factors. Combining material scaling with neck geometrical data yielded the scale factors for the one, three, and six year old under extension, tension, compression, and flexion loading modes. The age-dependent scale factors in extension, tension, compression, and flexion were:​ 0.14, 0.25, 0.24, 0.14 for the one year old, 0.19, 0.30, 0.29, 0.18 for the three year old, and 0.25, 0.37, 0.36, 0.24 for the six year old, respectively. The adult 50th percentile male factors were considered to be unit values under each loading mode. Tolerance values (critical intercept values for the Nij criteria) were compared with the data obtained using scale factors from the calcaneal tendon. Scale factors, and hence, resulting injury tolerance values based on spine component material properties, are more appropriate than the values extrapolated from the calcaneal tendon tensile test data.