Air Bags

Air Bags General Information & Statistics
Air Bag Safety Tips
Air Bag Cut Off Switches

AIR BAGS - GENERAL INFORMATION & STATISTICS
Air bags are a federally mandated safety device. Air bags are mandatory on the passenger side of all vehicles beginning in model year 1998 for cars and 1999 for light trucks.

Air bags are designed for frontal and near-frontal crashes, the kind of crashes which account for more than half of all passenger vehicle occupant deaths. The bags are designed to limit head and chest injuries and, therefore, inflate only when the impact of the crash is moderate to severe -- greater than approximately 12 miles per hour. In order for an air bag to do its job, it comes out of the dashboard as fast as 200 miles per hour - with a tremendous force that can hurt those who are sitting too close to it, especially children.

Air bags do save lives. A study of real-world crashes conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) found that the combination of safety belts and air bags is 75 percent effective in preventing serious head injuries and 66 percent effective in preventing serious chest injuries in head-on collisions.

But they pose a threat to young children riding in the front seat of a car. Studies have found that children are up to 29% safer in the back seat, regardless of whether the car has a passenger-side air bag. The following actions are recommended for maximum safety in a motor vehicle:

• An infant should NEVER be placed in a rear-facing safety seat in the front seat - the seat rides too close to the deploying air bag.
• Children riding in the front seat are also at deadly risk if they are improperly or completely unbelted, out of position or too small for the safety belts to fit correctly. In a crash, they can easily slide forward on the seat, and the inflating air bag could hit them in the head or neck.
• The safest way for children to ride is buckled up in age and size appropriate safety seats or booster seats in the back seat.
• Driver and all adult passengers, particularly people under five feet, five inches tall, should make sure they are properly belted and that front seats are moved back as far as practical. 
   

An occupant can be severely injured or killed in a crash if not wearing a safety belt -- even if the vehicle is equipped with an air bag. Wearing a safety belt during a crash helps reduce the occupant's chance of hitting things inside the vehicle or being ejected from it. The air bag is only a "supplemental restraint." That is, it crashes where the front of the vehicle hits something. They aren't designed to inflate at all in rollover, rear, side or low-speed frontal crashes.

AIR BAGS - SAFETY TIPS:

• The driver should sit back at least 10" from the steering wheel.
• The front seat passenger should sit with the seat positioned as far rearward as is will go.
• Always wear your safety belt properly.
• If your steering wheel tilts, direct it toward your chest, not your head.
• If you are pregnant, place the lap belt low on your abdomen with the shoulder portion over your collarbone.
   

AIR BAGS - CUT OFF SWITCHES
Most people are significantly safer with air bags than without if they follow common sense rules of air bag safety:

Yet, for very few people, the potential risk air bags pose may outweigh the benefits.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has announced that air bag cut-off switches will be available to consumers who fall within four specific categories of being "at-risk". Only people fitting into one of the four risk categories may obtain the switches. Automakers made these switches available beginning January 19, 1998.

To request an application for permission to have a cut-off switch installed in your vehicle(s), contact NHTSA at 800-424-9393, or click here to visit USDOT NHTSA's web site.

For more information on air bags, visit the following web sites:

Traffic Safety and Occupant Protection(from USDOT NHTSA's web site)

National Safety Council

Insurance Institute for Highway Safety