Airbags

Air Bags and Children

The Problem

In September 1995, a 1994 mid-size car driven by a 26-year-old woman failed to stop for a red light at an intersection and collided with a 1985 compact car. The air bags in the 1994 vehicle deployed at impact, causing minor injuries to the driver. The passenger side air bag struck the back of the rear-facing child restraint system positioned in the right front passenger seat, breaking it in several places and killing the 5-month-old child in the restraint. A 3-year-old seated in a shield booster seat in the right rear seating position was not injured. All occupants of the other vehicle were wearing their lap/shoulder belts. The driver and the 10-year-old child who was seated in the right rear seating position sustained minor injuries. The adult occupying the right front seat was not injured. This crash demonstrates the dangers of air bags to small children. Air bags, like seat belts, were designed to protect a 170-pound adult male. They were not designed with children in mind.

Lessons Learned

The Safety Board documented that air bags can kill or critically injure children in accidents that would have been survivable had the air bag not deployed. The insufficient distance between the restraint system and the inflating air bag, in combination with the speed and force at which an air bag can inflate, can be lethal to children. A deploying passenger-side air bag strikes the child in the head and neck as opposed to the upper torso where it typically contacts adults. Designing and certifying a system to protect all occupants using only an average-sized adult male dummy has had tragic results for children. In 1996, the Safety Board completed a study on the performance and use of child restraint systems, seat belts, and air bags for children in passenger vehicles. The study analyzed data from 120 vehicle crashes that occurred between 1994 and 1996. Vehicle occupants included 207 children under age 11. Air bags deployed in 13 crashes in which a child was seated in the front passenger seat. In 7 of the 13 crashes, the child was either killed or critically injured by contact with the air bag.

Air Bags and Children 6 Putting Children First

The Safety Board convened a public forum in March 1997 to discuss concerns related to the effectiveness of air bags and ways to increase seat belt and child restraint use. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) participated, along with representatives from Australia, Canada, and Europe, the automobile industry, air bag suppliers, insurance companies, safety and consumer groups, and family members involved in crashes in which air bags deployed. As a result of its study and public forum, the Safety Board issued a series of safety recommendations in 1995, 1996, and 1997 on the dangers that air bags pose to small children. The Safety Board recommended that NHTSA, safety advocates, and automakers address air bag safety education and research, and advanced air bag technology, and that they revise air bag performance standards.

Safety Improvements

Actions taken subsequent to the Board' s safety recommendations include the following:

• The automobile industry sent letters and warning labels to owners of
• 60 million cars currently on the road that are equipped with air bags, advising the owners about the dangers that air bags pose to children.
• NHTSA required highly visible and permanent warning labels about the dangers that air bags pose to children in all newly manufactured air bag equipped vehicles and on child restraint systems, effective February 1997.
• NHTSA and the automobile and insurance industries initiated an air bag safety campaign in May 1996. The goal of the Air Bag and Seat Belt Safety Campaign, as it is known today, is to educate the public about the importance of putting children in the back seats of vehicles with air bags, buckling up everyone in the car, strengthening State seat belt use laws, and increasing enforcement of the laws.
• Since May 1997, automobile manufacturers have been permitted to install depowered air bags in newly manufactured vehicles. This change is a first step to reduce the risk of air bag-induced injuries to children, short-statured adults, and senior citizen occupants.
• Certain at-risk occupants now can apply for permission from NHTSA to install on-off switches for one or both front air bags.
• In May 2000, NHTSA established performance criteria for advanced air bags that will be safe for occupants of all ages and sizes.
• Child passenger safety literature now advises that children age 12 and under ride in the back seat of a vehicle that has front passenger air bags.

 

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