Airbags

• Over 137 million (63.6%) of the more than 215 million cars and light trucks on U.S. roads have driver airbags. Over 115 million (53.8%) of these also have passenger airbags. Another 1 million new vehicles with airbags are being sold each month.
• Deaths in frontal crashes are reduced about 26 percent among drivers using safety belts and about 32 percent among drivers without belts.
• Deaths in frontal crashes are reduced about 14 percent among right front passengers using their belts and about 23 percent among passengers without belts. However, deaths are about 34 percent higher than expected among child passengers younger than 10.
• The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that 10,789 people are alive today because of their airbags..
• The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that the combination of an airbag plus a lap/shoulder belt reduces the risk of serious head injury by 85 percent compared with a 60 percent reduction for belts alone.
• Since 1990, 229 deaths reportedly have been caused by airbags inflating in low severity crashes. These deaths include 78 drivers, 10 adult passengers, 119 children, and 22 infants.
• Of the 78 drivers killed by airbags, (58 females, 20 males), 51 are believed to have been unbelted, 21 were belted, and 4 misused their seatbelts (2 used the lap belt only, and 2 used the shoulder belt only). Two of the belted drivers were unconscious and slumped over their steering wheels so they were on top of their airbags. Belt use is unknown for the other two drivers. Pre-impact braking was involved in 23 cases.
• Of the 10 adult passengers killed by passenger airbags 8 were females (6 were older than 65 years-old) and 2 were males ages 57 and 85. Six adult passengers are believed to have been unbelted, 3 were belted, and 1 was improperly belted (had shoulder belt under the arm). Seven of the incidents involved pre-impact braking.
• Of the 119 children killed by passenger airbags, 91 are believed to have been unbelted; 24 children were improperly belted; and 3 were belted and one case is unknown. Twenty-one of the unbelted children were seated in the lap of a front passenger and three were unbelted and on the lap of the driver. Improper belt use includes 13 cases where the child was using lap/shoulder belts only; and 3 children had the shoulder belt positioned under their arm. In two cases the children shared the lap belt with another passenger. The remaining cases involving belt misuse are those where the belt and/or the forward facing child safety seats were misused. Most of these crashes involved pre-impact braking.
• Of the 22 infants killed by airbags, 13 are believed to be restrained in rear-facing infant seats; 4 in rear-facing restraints on laps; 4 were not properly secured in rear-facing restraints and 1 unknown if properly restrained. Fifteen cases involved pre-impact braking and in 1 case pre-impact braking is unknown.

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