The Benefits and Risks of Airbags

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The Benefits and Risks of Airbags

In 1966, President Johnson signed the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety act. This act required the government to come up with new safety standards for motor vehicles. Four years or so later, in the 1970s, General Motors and Ford placed new airbags in small fleet cars (Moore). The concept of this new device was to totally inflate stopping the rapid forward motion of a person not wearing a seat belt before they would hit the dashboard or be thrown from a car during a crash. The airbags soon proved to be helpful, but in some cases they were still very dangerous (The Truth). Airbags, to me, are an important part of car safety; they saved my relatives lives. But, complications still arise from the force of an airbag deploying when a car is hit at a low speed. And the fact that some motor companies only test airbags on large dummies resembling males is upsetting because not everyone is the same size. The companies also waited five months before acknowledging that there were safety problems with the airbags.

Even if airbags do save lives, there are still some injuries and even some fatalities linked to an exploding airbag. Around 51 people have been killed from an airbag since 1990 and 30 of then have been children. Contrary to popular belief, the airbag is not a cushioning pillow that gently breaks your fall during a car crash. Designed to propel out at speeds of up to 200 mph the air bag is designed to stop and violent thrashing forward of a body during a collision (Doherty). The sensors located in the front of a car determine weather the airbag is needed in cars with in milliseconds of the crash occurring. However these sensors are often too sensitive and this causes and airbag to so...

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...eople would be lucky if they got to live to analyze their mistakes. This information will also allow people to know what is coming up in the world of airbags and what they can get for their cars to keep them safer. Even thought airbags are there to save lives, there is still a potential danger that comes with them. If the proper steps are taken and everything possible is done to keep a person in the correct area for a deploying airbag, they could save a life.

Bibliography:

Doherty, Brian. “Airbags and Gasbags.” Reason. March 1997. Sec. Editorials.

Moore, Victor. “Airbag Chronology” Dec. 17. ’01. Motorvista website.

http://www.motorvista.com/airhist.htm

“Safety-Airbags.” Times Union. 2001. Sec: Safety.

www.timesunion.webpoint.com/newcars/airbags.htm

“The Truth.” 2000. Safety Fourm. Safety About airbags.

http://www.safetyfourn.com/aribags/

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