Some picture an airbag as a soft pillow that is quickly placed in front of you moments before an auto accident. Although airbags save many lives, they can be very dangerous. Airbags deploy in 1/20 of a second which is about 160 mph, faster than you can blink your eyes. A controlled explosive device is necessary to inflate the bag at this speed creating quite a hard surface to strike.

Though airbags save many lives, they often cause a variety of injuries. Most injuries are friction burns from the bag itself scrubbing the arms of the driver when it deploys, but fractures of wrists and arms occur as well.

In the video above I talk about the potential for serious injury due to the improper position of the front seat passenger. Propping your feet up on the dash could pretty much guarantee you severe lower extremity or leg fractures with any airbag deployment. Even if an emergency stop was made while a passenger was in this position and the airbag did not go off, the angle and the direction of the passenger’s weight would cause them to slide underneath the lap belt into the floor in front of them. This would likely cause neck and face injury after sliding or catching under the lap belt. NOT FUN!

Oh, and by the way, if you use the excuse of having an airbag to rationalize why you don’t wear your seat belt… Consider this: some airbags will not deploy unless the seat belt is on.

It didn’t take long to learn that the force of an airbag can hurt those who are too close to it. Researchers have determined that the risk zone for driver airbags is the first 2 to 3 inches (5 to 8 cm) of inflation. So, placing yourself 10 inches (25 cm) from your driver airbag gives you a clear margin of safety. Measure this distance from the center of the steering wheel to your breastbone. If you currently sit less than 10 inches away, you can adjust your driving position in the following ways:

• Move your seat to the rear as far as possible while still reaching the pedals comfortably.
• Slightly recline the back of your seat. Although car designs vary, most drivers can achieve the 10-inch distance even with the driver seat all the way forward by slightly reclining the back of the seat. If reclining the seat makes it hard to see the road, you can raise yourself up by using your car’s seat-raising system (not all cars have this!) or a firm, non-slippery cushion to achieve the same effect.
• Point the airbag toward your chest, instead of your head and neck, by tilting your steering wheel downward (this only works if your steering wheel is adjustable).

The rules are different for children. An airbag can seriously injure or even kill an unbuckled child who is sitting too close to it or is thrown toward the dash during emergency braking. Experts agree that the following safety points are important:

• Children 12 and under should ride buckled up in a properly installed, age-appropriate car seat in the rear seat.
• Infants in rear-facing child seats (under one year old and weighing less than 20 pounds / 10 kg) should never ride in the front seat of a car that has a passenger-side airbag.
• If a child over one year old must ride in the front seat with a passenger-side airbag, he or she should be in a front-facing child safety seat, a booster seat or a properly fitting lap/shoulder belt, and the seat should be moved as far back as possible.

If you have been in an accident, please call for a consultation about your injuries. Prompt treatment is important.

www.DrRobWatkins.com

Fort Myers – 590-9555

LaBelle – 675-8900