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1. What are airbags?

Inflating in a fraction of a second immediately after a serious frontal crash begins, airbags become energy-absorbing buffers between people and the hard interior surfaces of vehicles. Mounted in the steering wheel (driver) and the right front instrument p anel (passenger), airbags are designed to protect people in serious frontal crashes — the kind that account for more than half of all occupant crash deaths. Newer types of airbags also are starting to become available to protect people in side impacts.

2. How do airbags and lap/shoulder belts protect people?

In a serious frontal crash, a vehicle's occupant compartment and the people riding inside don't stop immediately. Instead they continue moving forward as the vehicle's front end crushes. During the fraction of a second this crushing occurs, airbags and lap/shoulder belts work together to protect people by allowing them to slow down with the occupant compartment. The airbags help keep people's heads and chests from hitting the steering wheel, instrument panel, or windshield. If there's hard braking or other violent maneuvers before the crash, the lap/shoulder belts also help keep people in positions where there's still space for the airbags to create energy-absorbing buffers between the people and the hard interior surfaces. The belts protect people in nonfrontal crashes as well as frontal ones. Plus, they prevent people from being thrown from their vehicles.

3. If people use their lap/shoulder belts, do they really need airbags?

Yes. Even with belts, occupants' heads and torsos still move forward in frontal crashes toward the steering wheel, instrument panel, or windshield. If people hit these hard, they can be seriously injured or killed. By keeping people — even people using belts — from hitting these hard interior surfaces, airbags are providing important additional protection. By the same token, people in cars with airbags still must buckle up, not only because the belts work with airbags in frontal crashes but also because belts provide important protection in nonfrontal crashes.

4. How serious does a frontal crash have to be for an airbag to inflate?

Most airbags are designed to inflate in crashes equivalent to hitting a solid barrier at 10-12 mph. Mercedes and BMW use different inflation thresholds depending on whether people are using their safety belts. Thresholds of 10-12 mph are used for unbelted occupants, but thresholds are higher — about 16 mph — for people with belts because they're unlikely to be injured in crashes at slower speeds.

5. Are airbags required?

Yes. The federal government is requiring automakers to phase them in. Ninety percent of 1997 model cars were required to have airbags. All 1998 cars were required to have them. Airbags also are required in all 1999 model light trucks and vans. Responding to marketplace demand, most manufacturers were ahead of this schedule. Virtually all 1996 model cars, light trucks, and vans had driver airbags. About 94 percent of these 1996 cars and 26 percent of the 1996 light trucks and vans also had passenger airbags.

6. Are airbags effective? Do they save lives?

Yes. More than 2,900 people are alive today because of their airbags. Driver deaths are being reduced by about 14 percent. Passenger airbags are reducing deaths by about 11 percent. People who use their safety belts may think they don't really need airbags. But they do. Deaths in airbag-equipped cars are 12 percent lower among drivers using their belts and 9 percent lower among passengers with belts, compared with deaths in vehicles without airbags.

7. Are there any problems with airbags? Do they injure people?

Serious injuries and deaths have been caused by inflating airbags. These problems aren't happening entirely at random, however. Most deaths caused by airbags involve people who were unbelted or improperly belted, which allowed them to move on top of, or extremely close to, their airbags as they began to inflate.

8. How do airbags injure people? Who's at greatest risk?

The energy required to inflate airbags can injure people on top of, or very close to, airbags as they begin to inflate. In the first few milliseconds of inflation, the forces can seriously injure anyone struck by an inflating bag. It's important to understand that serious inflation injuries occur because of people's positions when the bags begin inflating — not because of people's sizes or ages. Anyone on top of, or very close to, an airbag as it begins to inflate is at risk. This is why most airbag deaths involve people who weren't using belts, were improperly belted, or were positioned improperly. Unbelted people, especially passengers, are at risk because they're likely to move forward if there's hard braking or other violent maneuvers before a crash. Then they can get too close to their airbags and be injured. Improperly positioned people at risk include drivers who sit — or who lean forward in their seats — so they're very close to the steering wheel (less than 10 inches away) and infants in rear-facing restraints positioned in front of passenger airbags.

9. What about children? Are they at any special risk?

Most deaths from inflating airbags have been children. A number of these were infants in rear-facing restraints, which shouldn't be used in the front seat with a passenger airbag because it puts an infant's head too close to the bag. The forces of the inflating airbag against the back of the restraint can cause serious, even fatal, head injuries. Virtually all older children killed by airbags were either unbelted or improperly belted. But even belted children can be at risk if they lean forward to, for example, fiddle with radio dials because this can put a child's head too close to the airbag.

10. Where should an infant ride in a car with a passenger airbag?

Put babies in rear-facing restraints in the back seat. The back always was safest, even before airbags, and now this is more important. If a rear-facing restraint is used in front, the infant's head is too close to the airbag. Avoid this by making sure a baby's restraint is tightly secured to a vehicle's back seat with an adult safety belt and the child is buckled into the restraint. The only exception to this back-seat rule is if there's a switch to turn off the passenger bag.

11. What about older children?

When youngsters outgrow rear-facing infant restraints, they should graduate to forward-facing child restraints or booster seats. Like infant restraints, these should be attached to the back seat with an adult safety belt. The back is safest for kids of any age — kids riding in back are 36 percent less likely to be killed, a recent Institute study found.

12. Should a child ever ride in the front seat of a car with a passenger airbag?

Only if there is a switch installed to turn off the passenger airbag. If there isn't, the only exception to the kids-in-back rule is if an adult is transporting too many children to put them all in back. Then make sure the seat is all the way back and the child is securely buckled in a lap/shoulder belt and sitting back in the seat. Leaning forward to, for example, fiddle with radio dials can put a child at risk from an inflating airbag.

13. What should drivers do to protect themselves?

Remember it's because of people's positions that they may be harmed by airbags. Simply buckling up virtually eliminates this risk for adults by ensuring they won't move forward and get too close to an airbag before it inflates. Only one group of adults who use belts is at serious risk of inflation injuries. These are drivers who sit very close to the steering wheel. The closer they are, the greater the risk. But the same drivers also are at risk without airbags because they're likely to hit the steering wheel hard — often with their faces — in a crash. These drivers can reduce their risk without throwing away airbag benefits. First, they should use belts. Second, move at least 10 inches back from the center of the steering wheel.

14. What about short drivers? Elderly drivers? Do these steps work for them?

Short drivers and elderly ones can be especially vulnerable to inflation injuries not because of their size or age but because they sit very close to the steering wheel. However, most drivers, even short ones, can get 10 inches back from the center of the steering wheel and still reach the pedals. The problem often is that drivers too close to the wheel are leaning forward instead of sitting back in the seat. They should try to sit back. Those who cannot get far enough away from the wheel may consider pedal extenders. Only rarely will these measures not work.

15. What about pregnant women? Do these steps work for them?

Some women late in pregnancy may not be able to get their abdomens away from the steering wheel. Then there can be a risk of fetal injury from an airbag if it inflates. But even without the airbag, there's still a risk of fetal injury from hitting the steering wheel. Ideally, women at this stage in pregnancy should avoid driving.

16. Can inflating airbags cause arm injuries?

Yes. Some people's arms have been broken by inflating airbags. Drivers' arms shouldn't be positioned across the wheel.

17. Can airbag designs be modified to reduce the risk of inflation injuries?

Yes. Reducing airbag inflation energy, or depowering, is a quick design change that would lower injury risk, although it wonÕt entirely eliminate the risks. (Remember itÕs the energy needed to inflate an airbag that causes injuries.) The federal government has set rules allowing depowering, and depowered airbags are in most 1998 model vehicles.

18. What are "smart" airbags?

Future airbags will incorporate so-called "smart" technology that will reduce inflation injury risk even among people who have moved forward before their airbags inflate. For example, some vehicles already have sensors in specially designed restraints and passenger seats to detect rear-facing infant restraints and automatically switch off airbags on the passenger side. Rates of airbag inflation might be tailored to crash severity so inflation forces will be lower in less serious crashes than in ones at higher speeds. Even smarter airbags could recognize people's positions just before inflation and reduce the force if anyone is in a position to be harmed by the airbag.

19. How do side airbags differ from frontal ones?

Side airbags are smaller than frontal ones. They're designed to produce energy-absorbing buffers between people and the vehicle doors that are driven into them in side impacts. Most side airbags are designed to protect people's chests, and they're likely to provide some head protection, too. Some side airbags are designed specifically to protect the head.