Road Safety

Airbags Make Good Shock Absorbers!

Airbags are proven and effective safety devices. They are particularly effective in preventing life-threatening and debilitating head and chest injuries. They are designed to prevent a driver's head from striking the steering wheel and the front passenger from hitting the dashboard.

A study conducted in the United States by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has shown that the combined use of seatbelts and airbags is 75% effective in preventing serious head injuries and 66% effective in preventing serious chest injuries. These results suggest that serious injuries were avoided because motorists were wearing their seat belt and their vehicle was fitted with airbags.

For some people, however, the benefits of airbags come at the cost of less serious injuries caused by deployment of the airbag itself. Airbags inflate extremely quickly. Most airbag injuries are surface burns or minor cuts, bruises or abrasions, which are far less serious than the skull fractures and brain injuries that airbags prevent. In extreme but fortunately rare circumstances, certain injuries can be very serious or even fatal. However, it is possible to avoid being too close to an airbag by making simple changes in behaviour.

The one fact that is common to all who sustain serious injuries as a result of the airbag is not the height, weight, sex, or age. Rather, it is the fact that they were too close to the airbag when it started to deploy.