What are a few advantages of airbags in cars?

Question

Except for saves lives and protects...if any!

Answer 1

They lower your insurance rates...........

Answer 2

there are none   people are killed by airbags sure they might save your life but then again they can kill you too

Answer 3

Learn the Facts

Air bags save lives. Air bags in passenger cars and light trucks prevented an estimated 1,136 fatalities from 1986 to 1995, with another 600 saved in 1996. Once these life saving devices are equipped in all cars, it is estimated that 3,000 lives will be saved each year.

Driver-Side Air Bags

Driver-side air bags reduce the overall fatality risk of car drivers by a statistically significant 11 percent. In other words, a fleet of cars equipped with driver-side air bags will have 11 percent fewer driver fatalities than the same cars would have had if they did not have air bags. Still, air bags can be dangerous to short stature adults sitting too close to the air bag module, especially when unbuckled.

Passenger-Side Air Bags

Passenger-side air bags reduce the overall fatality risk of car passengers age 13 and older by a statistically significant 13.5 percent. It is estimated that an additional 88 right front passengers ages 13 and older would have died from 1986 to 1995 if passenger cars or light trucks had not been equipped with passenger-side air bags. To date only one passenger, a 98-year-old female, has died as the result of an adult passenger-side air bag-related injury.

Air bags can be dangerous to children 12 and under. Passenger-side air bags inflate at speeds up to 140 miles per hour (mph) -- faster than the blink of an eye. That blast of energy can severely hurt or kill children 12 and under who are too close to the air bag during inflation. If a child is unbelted, too small for the lap and shoulder belt to fit properly, or incorrectly restrained or positioned in a child safety seat, there is a danger that the child will be too close to the dashboard during the instant that the air bag inflates. This could result in serious injury or death. Pre-crash braking and steering are the usual reasons they move too close to the dashboard. This turns a minor 10 mph crash into a 140 mph head impact with the air bag.

The safest place for children 12 and under to ride is in the back.

An infant in a rear-facing safety seat must never be placed in the front seat of a motor vehicle with a passenger-side air bag. During a forward impact, the rapidly inflating air bag could strike the safety seat with enough force to seriously injure or kill the infant. Infants, under one year of age and about 20 pounds, must ride in rear-facing child safety seats placed in the back seat of the vehicle. They are especially at risk in cars with passenger side air bags. Never place an infant facing forward -- the child’s head and neck muscles cannot tolerate the crash forces.

Forward-facing convertible safety seats are used with toddlers over the age of one and weighing 20 pounds. These seats typically place the child at least several inches closer to the dashboard than the normal adult seating position, and therefore should be placed in the back seat. If it is absolutely necessary to place a forward-facing safety seat in the front of a vehicle with a passenger-side air bag, the vehicle seat should be adjusted as far back as possible from the dashboard. Make sure the child is secured snugly in the child safety seat and that the child safety seat is secured tightly against the vehicle seat back.

Car booster seats should be used with children who have outgrown their convertible safety seat but do not fit correctly in a lap/shoulder belt. They should be securely restrained in the rear seat.

Older children, who fit correctly in a lap/shoulder belt, should be securely restrained in the vehicle’s rear seat through age 12.

In summary, all children 12 years old and under are safest when properly restrained in the back seat of the vehicle. Children are up to 29 percent safer riding in the back seat versus the front seat, whether the vehicle has an air bag or not.