How important are side curtain airbags?

Question

My family and I were in a car accident a couple of weeks ago. The airbags deployed, and the car is totaled. Now we are looking to replace our minivan, but neither of the cars we are looking at (a 2005 Buick Terraza with 31,000 miles on it or a 2006 Chevy Uplander with 77,000) have side curtain airbags. The back will primarily carry my 7 year old son in a car seat and my 11 year old daughter. Is it really important that these cars are lacking these??

Answer 1

You can find the answer here:

http://www.safercar.gov

The site has all of the information you need to make an educated choice.

I would not buy either car. I don't trust the reliability of American makes. Find a nice used Toyota or Honda.

Answer 2

They will only be important if you get in a side impact accident.

Answer 3

There are nice to have if you are t-boned (hit in the side) in an accident.

Answer 4

Side airbags are an important innovation in vehicle safety equipment for protecting occupants in side impact crashes such as at intersections or when a vehicle veers off the road and crashes side-on into an object like a pole or tree.

Side airbags also offer protection in rollover crashes or when two vehicles have an adjacent angle crash.

Research conducted in the USA has demonstrated that side and curtain airbags can reduce the risk of casualty crashes by 45 per cent.

Answer 5

Side airbags are essential.  Without them any type of side collision, a rollover, or even a frontal collision is more dangerous.  Side airbags prevent ejection from the vehicle during a rollover, and you would want to make sure the side curtain airbags have a rollover sensor, as it would allow the airbags to stay inflated longer in a rollover.  Also, you want to make sure you're getting a vehicle with stability control - especially if it's larger.  The government has mandated all vehicles have stability control by 2012 I believe, as it's essential to controlling the vehicle.  Even in a frontal collision side airbags, if deployed, assist in keeping the movement of the occupants controlled.  Also, you want to make sure the frontal airbags are dual-stage, multi-stage, or what are called 'smart' airbags.  This means they usually have an occupant classification sensor, another approaching future mandate by the government.  This means when your daughter decides to start sitting in the front seat, the occupant classifier will weigh her, monitor whether or not she's wearing her seat belt, and depending on the car model use other data such as her height, seating position, crash intensity, etc. to deploy the frontal airbags at differing forces or sizes.  Both of the vehicles you mention have 5 star passenger side ratings, which means your children will most likely be safe sitting in the back, but a 4 star driver side rating, meaning there could possibly be injury to you.  I would just like to stress one final time, side airbags are essential.  I always tell everyone I know to get them in their next car, as I've watched testing videos where the crash test dummy's head strikes the crash barrier (hypothetically another vehicle's grill) when the vehicle doesn't have side curtain airbags.  This could kill you.

Answer 6

Anything that offers protection, such as seatbelts, air bags and curtains and safety glass is a good thing. Just remember that none of these things will prevent you from being involved in a collision or keep you from being hurt. The crash speeds that vehicles are tested at are between 35 and 37 mph and against an opposing vehicle of the same weight. We are being lied to when we are told that a vehicle is safe. The only time any vehicle is safe is when the vehicle is unoccupied and the engine is turned off - and that's about 95 pct of the time. It comes down to the skill and awareness of each driver doing the right thing that will increase survivability on the road.