AIRBAGS By Nathaniel Devine This paper is discussing the topic of airbags. Now everyone is saying that "oooohh, airbags are LIFESAVERS," and others reactions are "airbags are terrible and they're KILLERS." Let's get the facts straight about airbags. First of all kids under 12 shouldn't ride in the front seat of any car equipped with airbags. Transport Canada says: the recent death of a 4 year old boy from Montreal whose neck was broken in a low-paced traffic accident, the boy was wearing a seatbelt at the time.
Airbags and children in the front seat don't go together, says Dr. Barry Pless of Montreal Children's Hospital. Transport Canada said that small children usually push there shoulder belt behind their backs because they don't like it sweeping across their face, then the child is only buckled in by the lap portion of the belt. In an accident this allows the child's upper body to be thrown forward into an exploding airbag.
3 adults have died in Canada in minor accidents as a result of airbags. the 3 victims who died were either not wearing their seatbelts properly or they were sitting to close to the dashboard. The little 4 year old boy who died was the first child death in Canada due to airbags, Harry Leyden of the transport department said; "we want to make sure that it doesn't happen again." Even when children sit in carseats and the carseat is turned backward they are still very vulnerable. "The safest place for a child under 12 is in the back seat," says Leyden.
In the US 21 children have died due to airbags. "15 fatal car crashes involving airbags have resulted in the deaths of 4 children," says the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The AAA says that 39 million people do not know where to put a child's safety seat in relation to an airbag. Dr. Barry Pless was one of the first people to think of the idea of rear facing car seats on the passenger side.
Now it will be mandatory for car makers to put warning labels including where to place child seat in vehicles equipped with airbags, Kids should always wear seatbelts so they don't slip off the front of there seat in a car crash, You should make it a harsh family rule that all people in your car wear seatbelts. By the year 1999 all cars and trucks will have driver and passenger side airbags. One possible solution to stopping deaths by airbags is slowing down the rate at which the airbag inflates, Airbags are designed to protect the face, neck, head and chest area during frontal or backward crashes. Chemical burns to the hand and face may occur.
The airbag inflates between 20 & 30 milliseconds. According to Herb Shulinder and other resources the Volvo (all models) is the best car for high-paced accidents because all the new models have side door airbags. Just ask Linda Dugger who's life was saved on US highway 75 near Texas thanks to side impact airbags. BMW and Mercedes- Benz plan on putting side impact airbags in all their cars by 1999. Car makers and the government are looking at ways to make airbags safer.
Until then, they're warning drivers to buckle up and sit back. THE BOTTOM LINE IS: ALWAYS BUCKLE UP, DON'T SIT TO CLOSE TO THE DASHBOARD, AND KIDS IN THE FRONT SEAT AND AIRBAGS DON'T MIX! One can conclude that: 1) Kids under 12 and airbags DON'T MIX! 2) In your family you should make sure that it's a harsh rule that everyone wears a seatbelt, and if you have little ones make sure they don't push the top portion of the belt behind them! 3) Never sit to close to the dashboard. Are airbags lifesavers or killers, hopefully we'll soon find out.
