K
kpfleger
Guest
riding with side airbags correctly
Many cars now have side airbags and they can be excellent safety features,
but what alterations in riding habits do they require in order to minimize
the risk of injury from the side airbags themselves? Do owner's manuals
spell these out well, and do people follow them?
In vehicles equipped with side torso and side head airbags for front
passengers, do the front passengers need to give up riding around with one
arm hanging out an open window? Do they need to minimize how often/long
they stick their heads out of the windows while the vehicle is in traffic?
And most importantly, do they need to make sure to never fall asleep with
their head resting against the side of the vehicle?
Children (non-infants old enough to be out of carseats but still young enough to not be fully grown) should always ride in the rear seats to minimize danger from
front airbags, but what about side airbags here? Many vehicles have airbags
in the rear seats too. In particular, many vehicles, like the VW Passat
that is on top of everyone's best, safest family car list, have side head
curtain-style airbags that extend from the front to the back to protect
both front and rear passengers. Do children in the rear seats need to stay
away from the sides of the vehicle in general? While it may seem reasonable
to get adults in the front seats to not fall asleep against the side of the
vehicle, it would seem impossible to always prevent children from falling
asleep in the vehicle or assuming they do sleep to prevent them from
falling against the side of the vehicle and remaining there for extended
periods. This is not to mention preventing kids from eagerly staring out
the side windows with their faces pressed close to the glass, or out open
windows even.
Now obviously, kids with their heads next to the side windows are going
to be in trouble already in any severe side impact to the very spot
where they are sitting, but the side curtain airbags could easily deploy
due to a side impact that would not have come anywhere near the rear
seats of the vehicle. I don't know how they are set, or what real-world
deployments characteristcs are like, but I imagine the side airbags
could easily go off in an off-set corner crash that doesn't even involve
an external object pushing directly on the side of the vehicle (but that
might easily throw the occupant heads against the inside of the side of
the vehicle). What would happen to a child sleeping against the rear
side window if the side curtain airbag deployed?
How can anyone driving kids around in the backseat insure that the kids
don't end up in that configuration? Monitoring them from the driver's
seat would seem to create a distraction that is far more of a safety
hazard than than not having side curtain airbags that extend all the
way back to the rear seats in the first place.
-Karl
Many cars now have side airbags and they can be excellent safety features,
but what alterations in riding habits do they require in order to minimize
the risk of injury from the side airbags themselves? Do owner's manuals
spell these out well, and do people follow them?
In vehicles equipped with side torso and side head airbags for front
passengers, do the front passengers need to give up riding around with one
arm hanging out an open window? Do they need to minimize how often/long
they stick their heads out of the windows while the vehicle is in traffic?
And most importantly, do they need to make sure to never fall asleep with
their head resting against the side of the vehicle?
Children (non-infants old enough to be out of carseats but still young enough to not be fully grown) should always ride in the rear seats to minimize danger from
front airbags, but what about side airbags here? Many vehicles have airbags
in the rear seats too. In particular, many vehicles, like the VW Passat
that is on top of everyone's best, safest family car list, have side head
curtain-style airbags that extend from the front to the back to protect
both front and rear passengers. Do children in the rear seats need to stay
away from the sides of the vehicle in general? While it may seem reasonable
to get adults in the front seats to not fall asleep against the side of the
vehicle, it would seem impossible to always prevent children from falling
asleep in the vehicle or assuming they do sleep to prevent them from
falling against the side of the vehicle and remaining there for extended
periods. This is not to mention preventing kids from eagerly staring out
the side windows with their faces pressed close to the glass, or out open
windows even.
Now obviously, kids with their heads next to the side windows are going
to be in trouble already in any severe side impact to the very spot
where they are sitting, but the side curtain airbags could easily deploy
due to a side impact that would not have come anywhere near the rear
seats of the vehicle. I don't know how they are set, or what real-world
deployments characteristcs are like, but I imagine the side airbags
could easily go off in an off-set corner crash that doesn't even involve
an external object pushing directly on the side of the vehicle (but that
might easily throw the occupant heads against the inside of the side of
the vehicle). What would happen to a child sleeping against the rear
side window if the side curtain airbag deployed?
How can anyone driving kids around in the backseat insure that the kids
don't end up in that configuration? Monitoring them from the driver's
seat would seem to create a distraction that is far more of a safety
hazard than than not having side curtain airbags that extend all the
way back to the rear seats in the first place.
-Karl