Air Bag

["Al Powell" <apowell@agcom.tamu.edu>]

Re: the 11-year-old fatality caused by an air bag....and other, 
related thoughts.

This sounds like a rather marginal case of air bag fatality.  I don't 
know the height and weight of the child in question, and certainly it 
was bad luck that he (?) was leaning forward when the mother decided 
to be incompetent and rear end someone.

Warnings have been posted to the effect that drivers under (I think - 
may be in error) about 5 feet tall shouls disable air bags because 
they sit too close.  This child is very likely to have been right at 
the margins for "eligibility" to sit in the front seat of an air-bag 
equipped car.

My first impulse was to say: the mother should not have sat him 
there, then compounded her error by driving poorly. 

However, the child may have - barely - been "big enough" to sit in 
that seat.

Fact is, LIFE is not certain!  A small adult might have had EXACTLY 
the same injury if they were bending over when the air bag deployed.  
The question is, where do you want to take your chances?  What are 
the odds?  Do you cross busy stret between corners?  Do you drive 
fast in the rain?  Do you cut off large hairy bikers in heavy 
traffic?  Do you eat double cheese on every hamburger?

I suggest that this fatality does not make a case for or against 
air bags.  It is much more likely to make a case against the 
mother's judgement, or lack thereof.

For myself, the air bag in my 1990 200 will STAY activated.  My wife, 
the principal driver, is 5'9" and does not crowd the wheel (as many 
ladies do, for reasons I don't understand...as it makes it impossible 
to handle the wheel correctly, as per Bondurant's school...).  I 
consider her and me as *drivers* to be one helluva lot safer WITH it 
than without it.

Howsomever - it also pleases me that there is no air bag for the RF 
seat.  I can sit either my 8 or 9 year old daughter there and drive 
around town comfortably.  (Yes, there is some risk associated with 
this decision; it's my decision and I'm their parent, therefore it is 
my responsibility.)  I have also checked their seat belt fit and they 
are both tall enough that the belts fit properly and the shoulder 
belt does not touch their necks at any point.  (If there were an air 
bag for that RF seat, I might disable it except for highway trips.)

On highway trips, the kids sit in the rear seat.  Period.  That is 
much the safest, and my wife and I both prefer to ride in front.

And so it goes....


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Al Powell, Ph.D.                 Voice:  409/845-2807
107 Reed McDonald Bldg.          Fax:    409/862-1202
College Station, TX 77843      
Http://agcomwww.tamu.edu/agcom/satellit/alpage.htm
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