Safety features are in all passenger vehicles, but have you ever given much thought to how they work? Here are answers to some frequently asked questions about air bags, and how they are designed to protect drivers and passengers involved in an auto accident.
Does my car have air bags?
If you have a car, pickup truck, van or SUV that was built in the model year 1999 or later, than your vehicle has frontal air bags. The federal government has required automakers to include driver and passenger airbags as a standard feature in all passenger vehicles since 1999.
What do air bags do?
Frontal air bags for drivers and front seat passengers are designed to inflate in moderate to severe frontal car crashes. They are meant to prevent injury from the occupant hitting the interior of the car. They do not replace the need for seat belts, and are not designed for protection in rollover accidents or in side or rear impact collisions.
How have air bags changed?
Since 1999, two new generations of air bags have been put on the market. The second generation of frontal air bags are also known as “depowered” air bags. They are called this because the manufacturers reduced the power of inflation to lower the incidents of injuries and death from the force of the bag being inflated.
The newest generation is called the “advanced frontal air bag”. These are designed to be even more effective in saving lives than the depowered bags, while also reducing incidents of injuries and death to children and small adults. This third generation became available in some 2002 models, and has been standard equipment on all passenger vehicles since 2007.
What about side air bags?
There is no law mandating side airbags, but the vast majority of new passenger vehicles do come with side airbags as standard equipment. Side air bags are designed to offer protection during a side impact car crash, or a rollover auto accident. They protect your head and torso from the interior of the vehicle.
Side air bags can deploy from the seatback, door, or roof. Some vehicles have side air bags for the rear seat as well.
When do air bags deploy?
For best protection, an air bag needs to inflate very quickly during the early stage of an auto accident. A frontal air bag inflates within the first 50 milliseconds (0.05 seconds) in a frontal crash. A side-impact air bag inflates in a fraction of a second, within the first 20 milliseconds (0.02 seconds) of a side crash.
How do I protect myself from an air bag injury?
Make sure you always use your seat belt.
Always have children ride in the back seat, using appropriate seat belts and safety seats for their size and age.
Use rear-facing infant safety seats in the back seat only.
Drivers should move their seats back from the steering wheel to ensure their chest is at least 10 inches away from the center of the steering wheel.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates that since 2009, more than 28,000 lives were saved in auto accidents from frontal airbags in passenger vehicles.
To read about auto-accident statistics:
http://www.callsam.com/michigan-personal-injury-cases/bad-accidents/car-accidents/automobile-injury-statistics
For safety tips:
http://www.michigan-auto-accident.com/michigan-car-accident-legal-help-center/safe-driving-tips-for-everyone.html?task=view
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Tags: air bag injury, car accident injury, car safety features, michigan auto accident lawyers
This entry was posted on Friday, March 16th, 2012 at 12:20 pm and is filed under Michigan car accidents. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.
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