| Tip
#9 Air bag safety:
Buckle up everyone! Children in back!
An infant or child
riding in the front seat can be
seriously injured or killed by the inflating air bag.
An air bag is not a soft
pillow. To do its important job, an air bag comes out of
the dashboard very fast, faster than the blink of an eye.
Many people's lives have been saved by air bags.
The force of an air bag
can hurt people who are too close to it. Drivers can
prevent injuries to adults and children from air bags by
following these safety steps.
Air Bag Safety Steps
- Infants in rear-facing
child safety seats must NEVER ride in the front
seat of a vehicle with a passenger air bag.
- Children 12 and under
should ride buckled up in the rear seat. They
should use child safety seats, booster seats, or
safety belts appropriate for their age and size.
- Everyone should
buckle up with both lap AND shoulder belts
on every trip. Driver and front passenger seats
should be moved as far back from the dashboard as
practical.
- Infants under age one
must ride facing the rear of the car in the rear
seat. Parents should feel just as comfortable in
this situation as they do when they put their
babies down for a nap and leave the room.
- If a baby has special
health needs and requires full-time supervision,
ask another adult to ride with the baby in the
back seat and travel alone as little as possible
until the health problem is resolved.
- Check your vehicle
owner's manual and the instructions provided with
your child safety seat for information on air
bags and safety seat use.
YES!
This car has a
passenger air bag, so baby always rides in back.
Why have children died
in vehicles with air bags?
In almost all cases in
which an infant died, the baby was riding in a rear-facing
safety seat in the front passenger seat. The back of the
safety seat was so close to the dashboard that the air
bag hit the safety seat with tremendous force. The force
broke the back of the safety seat and caused a fatal
brain injury. Child safety seats are not designed to
protect against this extreme impact.
In almost all cases in
which a child over age 1 has died from impact by the air
bag, he or she was "out of position" either
unbuckled, or not wearing the shoulder portion of the
safety belt. The child slid or flexed forward during pre-crash
braking, so the head and neck were close to the dashboard
at the time the air bag was triggered. Severe head or
neck injuries occurred.
If a child is sitting
against the seat back, fully restrained by a forward-facing
child safety seat or a lap/shoulder belt and the seat is
pushed all the way back, the danger from the air bag is
reduced.
What about sports cars
and pickup trucks?
If there is no rear seat
and no air bag shut-off switch, a child is at high risk
from a passenger air bag.
Some pickup trucks made
since model year 1996 have switches to shut off the
passenger air bag. Other vehicles may have them in future
years. Turning off the switch is the best way to protect
an infant riding in a
rear-facing safety seat or an older child using a safety
seat, booster, or safety belt.
What if you have no
alternative except putting a
child in front?
If there is no room in
back, a child over age one may have to ride in the front
seat. Here's how to reduce the risk:
- Make sure the child
is correctly buckled up with the vehicle seat
moved as far back as possible. A toddler/preschooler
should use a forward-facing child safety seat; an
older child should use a belt-positioning booster
or lap/shoulder belt.
- Fasten the harness or
lap/shoulder belt securely.
- Make sure an older
child does not slip out of the shoulder belt or
lean toward the dashboard.
Vehicle owners and lessees
can obtain an on-off switch for one or both of their air
bags only if they can certify that they are, or a user of
their vehicle is, in one of the four risk groups: infants
in rear-facing infant seats, drivers or passengers with
unusual medical or physical conditions, children ages 1
to 12, or drivers who cannot get back 10 inches from the
air bag cover. To be considered eligible for an on-off
switch, a NHTSA request form must be filled out and
returned to NHTSA. Forms are available from state motor
vehicle offices and may be available from automobile
dealerships and repair facilities. Forms can also be
requested by contacting NHTSA's Auto Safety Hotline at 1-888-DASH-2-DOT
or visiting the NHTSA Web site at http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov
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