What is the average percentage of airbag failure in car accidents?

Question

I wonder how reliably car airbags deploy in accidents.

Does anyone know where to find more info on this?

Surely, it must be an issue somewhere, to someone?

Answer 1

I think the reliability is almost 100%. Maybe when handling without care some will open before it is neccessary, but I think the percentage is 1%.

Franky

Answer 2

Less than 2 percent according to the (NHTSA).....

Answer 3

The number of lives saved by airbags is hard to pin down. One study, cited below, puts the number at just under 400 per year (6,000 total), and another study indicates that airbags reduce fatalities by 8% when seat belts are worn. Airbags also greatly increase the efficiency of seat-belts, in some cases up to 50%.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airbag

According to the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration (NHTSA), more than 1.4 million recalls in 2004, were related to Air Bag safety problems. In 2003, only about 350,000 recalls were related to Air Bag problems. NHTSA closely monitors Air Bag systems and the technology is getting more scrutiny since new regulations mandating smart Air Bags went into effect. Air Bags continue to get more complex. Many of the Air Bag recalls involve wiring problems that could result in the Air Bags not going off when needed.

http://www.anapolschwartz.com/practices/...