Side air bags in back seat

Should we have the side air bags disabled in our 2008 Kia Rio5? One child will be rear facing and one will be forward facing.

Why would you disable them? Side curtain and side bolster airbags don't deploy the same way as frontal airbags. They are smaller, and just run along the hard parts of the vehicle versus intruding into the passenger compartment. These airbags are not a risk to your properly restrained children.

-Nicole.

QuassEE said:

Why would you disable them? Side curtain and side bolster airbags don't deploy the same way as frontal airbags. They are smaller, and just run along the hard parts of the vehicle versus intruding into the passenger compartment. These airbags are not a risk to your properly restrained children.

-Nicole.

Click to expand...

:yeahthat:

Even if you decided that you wanted to disable them, you'd have a difficult time, if not find it impossible, to find a mechanic willing to disable them even once you got the required paperwork from Transport Canada. Mechanics don't want the liability of somebody being injured if an airbag is off - and they have concerns about the airbags not being enabled for the future owners and just don't want to go near them as a general rule.

With all of the above agreed...

My DH is a mechanic. He has gone to several schools for auto-mechanics and works in the field.
Where I live, it is nearly impossible to find a mechanic who WILL disable the airbags. The above said reasons, liability for future owners or non-carseat passengers, as well as others. He has been trained not to fiddle with airbags in any way, shape, or form. There is WAY too much chance of the airbag being damaged in a way or altered so that it would not correctly deploy if needed. There is also WAY too much chance that while fiddling, the airbag could be deployed. This could injure the mechanic severely or lead to a very angry customer when they find out their airbag must now be replace by the dealer 'cause some moron F'ed with it, haha.
There are very few exceptions and they must be done by a VERY experienced/trained mechanic or the dealer (who also must be very trained/experienced!) For instance, all lab cars at auto-mechanics schools have disabled airbags for the student's safety.

I would be rest assured that if the side airbags in your vehicle were not safe for childseat passengers, they would not be in so many new vehicles.

uh...NO. Those airbags are there to PROTECT your children. They significantly increase the crash test ratings of your vehicle. And, as everyone has said, noone would do it with a ten foot pole.
Side airbags are a huge safety feature..one you want to use!