Unpacking the Airbag Debate

If you have bought a new car in the past few years, chances are that airbags came standard. In fact, even side-impact bags are becoming more and more common as a standard-issue. However, while you may know the benefits of airbags, there are also several negative effects as well. Unpacking the airbag debate is important so that you know the pros and cons of having airbags.

There's no question that airbags can be extremely helpful in head-on accidents. When your car is forced to suddenly decelerate, like if you hit a stationary object with your front bumper, your head and body can be pitched forward due to your forward momentum. This can be dangerous as you can hit your head on the hard steering wheel, dashboard, or even the glass of the windshield. These accidents can result in lacerations, bruising, broken facial bones, lost teeth, and even eye damage.

Airbags, though, are meant to deploy at the point of impact, instantly blowing up and stopping your forward momentum. Although airbags themselves can cause slight injuries due to the power with which they explode open, they are considered to be less dangerous than hitting the other parts of the car. In fact, in the past eleven years, an estimated 25,782 lives were saved because of airbags.

However, the deployment of these devices can also be hazardous. Airbags explode with enough force that they can actually kill people, especially petite adults and children. In 1997, government safety statistics report that 53 people died due to airbags. 31 of those were children. Therefore, it is important for kids under the age of 13 or especially small people to ride in the backseat.

Thankfully, more and more cars are now becoming equipped with safety sensors that can automatically turn off a front-seat airbag if the passenger does not weigh a certain amount. Additionally, some cars allow the driver to control this feature by flicking an "airbag on/off" switch. Lastly, some airbags may deploy less strongly than usual if the car's computer detects a lower-weight passenger.

Also, many cars now have side-impact airbags, or SABs. While these can be helpful in a rollover accident, these SABs also pose a risk to children's health. If a child is seated too near to an airbag, the force of it exploding at their head and chest levels can cause serious injury and even death. Luckily, most vehicles in the U.S. do not include SABs that deploy at these levels, according to an auto industry and insurance group called the Technical Working Group.

Overall, it's easy to see that there are definite pros and cons to airbags. However, it's safe to say that when airbags malfunction and either deploy unexpectedly or not when they should, it can cause problems, auto accidents, personal injuries, and even death.

AIRBAG INJURIES