jackspat2

There's not a safety Topic, so I'm making my own :P

I found an article on airbags while searching for something. It's quite interesting but a little outdated.

From: David N. Parry <dparry@unf6.cis.unf.edu>
Date: Thu, 28 Sep 1995 15:40:59 -0400
http://www.ibiblio.org/rdu/air-bags.html

I know the editors of many magazines worship at the altar of the AIRBAG. Am I the only person in this country who thinks mandatory passive restraints are a waste of money and space. I generally disagree with the passive restraint law.

The Libertarian in me despises a government that is going to tell me and my peers that I MUST do something for my own good makes me sick. I habitually wear a seatbelt, but I believe it is my right to be stupid and die in a car wreck if I want to. Darwinism dictates that those with the traits necessary to survive (in this case, the brains to wear a seatbelt), will outlive their less intelligent counterparts. It is selection at its best. But, no, the feds decided that all cars must have some sort of idiot device in them to restrain those people who shouldn't be breeding in the first place. The auto industry comes up with two solutions: those annoying and uncomfortable passive shoulderbelts and airbags. The market has soundly rejected the motorised belts leaving us with the wonderful SRS airbags. Now everyone's safer, right? Wrong! That's the biggest crock of evacuated bovine fecal matter that I've ever heard.

Airbags are only good in two types of accidents: rear-end and head-on collisions. Low speed rear-end accidents are the most common, but least fatal. Head-on (direct and off-center) are extremely deadly, but account for somthing like 10% of all collisions. Front-mounted airbags are absolutely useless in broadside and t-bone crashes, which account for a larger portion of fatal crashes than those accidents where an airbag makes a difference. In most of the cases where an airbag is deployed, properly using the seatbelt and headrest will reduce the risk of death or injury to the point where the airbag is a superfuous redundancy. So the carmaker gets to increase the unitl cost of the vehicle by a couple hundred dollars and we are stuck replacing the airbag at $300-800 a pop everytime some punk kid bangs into our back bumper at 8 mph.

If government (or the auto industry) really wants to save lives, try putting five point seatbelts in cars. Or making ABS and TCS standard. Or use aluminium space frames. Or reinforce the body with impact bars and crumple zones. Car safety is an important item on most new car buyers' check lists and we have the technology; let's use it. It seems to me that money would be better spent by trying to avoid accidents rather than trying to survive them.

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Now we have curtain side airbags and stuff. I wonder if the statistic he had back in 95 still applies today??? What do you guys think about airbags?

jwaters943

While not perfect, I think airbags are most definitely a good thing as long as you are wearing a seatbelt. For those drivers/passengers that still go on not wearing seatbelts, airbags are a huge danger.

That article is pretty old and doesn't mention side curtain airbags. I personally think side & side curtain airbags are great. They are more shallow and have less and sometimes no forward momentum toward the driver since the space they need to occupy is much less than front airbags. I've personally seen side crash test results that improved dramatically with the addition of side and/or curtain airbags. The Ford Escape comes to mind. Not a very safe vehicle IMO, but with side airbags its scoring improved greatly.

1killercls

I was in an accident a few years ago in my 96 Civic EX Coupe. A guy turned left in front of me and I T-Boned him. I was going 50 mph.

I walked away with a sore shoulder and an airbag abrasion on my left arm.
He was in an old Ford Crown Vic. No seat belt on or airbags...They had to "Air Evac" him...

I think you get what I am saying here.

Saintor_RENAMED

Now you have cars with 6+ airbags!

There was a case here of a five-yrs old boy dead in a minor accident. He was seated unbelted and his father bumped the front car at low speed around 10-20 mph - only the bumper of the Accent needed repair. This was my example of bad use, because geenrally they save lifes. New generations of airbags are "intelligent" and less violent. The kid should have worn the seatbelt and put in the rear.

One feature that is almost a revolution is the ESP (VSA on TSX). It maximizes the chances for the car to stay in path when there is some skid.

In North America, only upscale cars propose it, with he exception of the Ford Focus (a 1200$ option) and VW.

TWong1200

SRS airbags are supplemental, as we all know. Whether they help or not, can often be subjective. In theory, they should assist in any accidents but sometimes can be more harmful to people.

I'll give you an example. A LONG time ago when I was young and dumb, a friend and I were playing "chase" along the 5 freeway in the Los Angeles area. I was in an 89 MR2 S/C (no airbags at all), and he was in a 91 MR2 Turbo (dual airbags). Let's just say that we BOTH crashed but he and his passenger were more injured than my passeger and me.

So, since that time, I have been somewhat against them. But, you can't buy a car anymore without them so I just live with them.

My $.02

Precision Crafted

As good as air bags are, aren't they more effective on larger cars than smaller ones. I'm sure the weight of a car has something to do with it. The National Insurance Institute I believe says every year that bigger and heavier then small and light.

Precision Crafted

Oh, I did forget to say that the Civic and the Corolla prove that small and lite can be safe. However, look at the two cars that are listed as small and safe.

jackspat2

I liked the article because ABS and vehicle safety systems are still not standard, but airbags are? In my truck, I can turn off the passanger airbag with my key. I guess that's there incase there's a carseat. Seems like we need to wear our seatbelt to make the most out of our airbags. And airbags are really expensive.