Basic Airbag Safety

Air bags are very complex systems. By what mechanism do they deploy? In what instances are they designed to deploy? When are they not meant to? These are all questions that will be addressed in later posts. For now however, I will concentrate in what I see as the most immediately relevant to the motoring public.

Airbags are meant to supplement the seat belts in restraining a vehicle occupant in the event of an accident. Their role as a supplementary restraint system (hence SRS) cannot be stressed enough. Seat belts will restrain occupants in events in which the air bag will not offer any protection (and therefore will not deploy), such as rear end collisions, roll overs, and T-Bone collisions (in referring to frontal airbags). Moreover, air bags will only deploy once, while an accident might actually involve multiple collisions. Furthermore, airbags are designed to deploy in crashes of a pre-determined severity level. However, this does not mean that crashes that fall below this deployment criteria will not hurt you... and so you see the importance of seat belts.

Think of a deploying airbag. While in slow motion (as you are likely used to seeing the deployment) it may resemble a slow, soft pillow that gently cradles the driver's (or passenger's) upper torso and face, in reality a deploying airbag is a violent event. It inflates and completely deflates in less time than it takes to blink your eyes, and is quite capable of fracturing your orbital bone, collapsing your lungs and breaking your neck. I have seen multiple cases in which fractures to the forearm bones occur from a deploying airbag. They can cause severe permanent damage. How to best avoid these injuries you ask? By not being out of position at the moment of deployment.

Think of it as the difference between the occupant coming into contact with the deployed airbag, and the deploying airbag coming into contact with the occupant. The best way to avoid a deploying airbag, is to be a properly belted occupant, seated no less than 10-12in. from the SRS module (See Owner's Manual). It's no good to be a properly belted occupant if you are sitting too close. The airbag will still impact you while it is deploying.




It is also important to note that not all impacts occur like the one shown above, without any prior frontal deceleration. In many occasions the driver may attempt to apply the brakes before the collision, throwing the body forward before the collision and subsequent deployment. This will place you in the way of the deploying airbag if not buckled and seated properly, and increase the risk of serious injury.

Buckle up? Or not?

We all know that a particular deadly oversight on the part of the driver is the failure to use the seatbelt restraints provided (according to the DOT, seat belt use remains at 81%, virtually unchanged since 2003). Remember, that air bags are meant only as a supplementary restraint system (hence, SRS), not the primary. As anyone who has ever gone through an owner's manual knows, the primary restraint system in your vehicle is the seat belts. It is through the use of the seat belts that you can better reduce severity of injury and increase your chances of surviving a crash. In fact, federal law mandates motor vehicle manufacturers to install seat belt use reminders. Yes, you have all heard them.

Why then, I wonder, do federal transportation officials make the installation of seat belts optional in school buses?

I don't understand. Are they helpful in limiting injury and death, or not? If they are, and federal regulation mandates that the car itself reminds us to wear them, why then should not the kids that ride in their buses to school have the option of buckling up?

One of the arguments against installing seat belts in school buses is that they are not as necessary in a school bus as they are in a regular non-commercial vehicle, since the kids are seated close together, the seats are well padded and the backs are high. So it is not even that they would not help, but that they would not help as much.

You are thinking that in a frontal accident it is much safer to impact your head against another tall well padded seat back than it is to do it against a dashboard, steering wheel, or windshield. True. But if there were no protection benefits to seat belts in these conditions, why mandate their installation in rear seats for any vehicles? Also, what about side impacts and rollovers the school bus may be involved in? Not all crashes are frontal, you know, we have all seen those in the news.

Finally, not giving the kids even the option to put on their seat belts sends the wrong message and undermines the importance of seat belt use later on. Maybe by making installation of seat belts in school buses, the DOT can save millions later on in buckle up campaigns!