The whole premise of an airbag just sounds good , does n’t it ? Instead of colliding with yourcar ’s steering cycle , dashboard or door , you get cushion by a pillow of aura . While airbags are n’t on the nose as cuddly - soft as a bear in a toilet paper commercial , making contact with one sure beats make contact with a blade control board . Since 1998 , front driver and rider airbags have been command equipment in all car and trucks sold in the United States . Between 1987 and 2008 , it ’s reckon that frontalairbagssaved more than 25,000 lives in the U.S. , making them one of the great achievements in self-propelling condom technology story [ source : NHTSA ] . Now there are cars with 10 airbags , and some car company have even incorporated airbag engineering into their seat belt [ author : Consumer Reports ] . But could airbags actually end up hurting or killing the citizenry they ’re supposed to protect ?
Anyone who ’s been in an accident in which the airbag has deploy can tell you that the effect is highly vehement . It has to be : Airbags require to get in front of the someone they ’re protecting and fully blow up before that soul makes middleman with something more harmful than the airbag itself . The modal driver ’s side airbag inflates in 20 to 30 milliseconds , exploding out of its living accommodations at 200 knot per hour ( 322 klick per hour ) [ origin : Huffman , DMV ] . In fact , the technology used to deploy airbags is similar to the technology in some roquette boosters .
Airbags exert a lot of force , so it is possible to be bruise by one . Sitting too nigh to a deploying airbag can leave in burns and harm . Using an airbag without a seatbelt or experience something between you and the airbag ( like a favourite , a glass feeding bottle or even acell phone ) can also result in serious injury . The people most at peril of death from airbag deployment are children and small adults , because their bodies ca n’t take the force . Moreover , most child sit in nestling safety seats , which are n’t designed for use with airbags . Seat case and positioning can also put a child at endangerment . Rear - facing kid prophylactic seats , for example , should never be used in the front can of a car because an airbag could cause serious injury or death if it strikes the back of the seat .
Airbags undoubtedly save lives when they ’re used properly , and they pose small jeopardy to adults . If youmusthave a shaver ride in the front prat of a fomite , and if your car is so - equipped , you’re able to trade the front passenger airbag off fairly easily — the instruction manual are in your owner ’s manual . Under certain , very specific circumstances , you may also take your car to a mechanic to have the passenger - side airbag switched off [ reference : NHTSA ] . If you ’re concerned about side airbags in the rear seat of your railroad car , you could have your child sit down in the middle seat position .
