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New Study: Side and Roof Airbags Save Lives

By Joe Benton
ConsumerAffairs.com

October 5, 2006

• Feds Require Side Curtain Airbags by 2013 • New Study: Side and Roof Airbags Save Lives • Study: Aggressive Driving Negates Benefits of Safety Devices • Feds Probe Airbag Problems in Chrysler Minivans • Statistics Show Airbags Getting Safer • NHTSA Grants Airbag Exemption to SUV • Honda Puts Airbag on Motorcycle • Front Airbags Risky for Teens • Airbag Fraud Endangers Motorists • Airbag Switch-Off Results Mixed • Side Airbags Saving Lives, Study Finds --- • Special Report: Certified Dangerous: Airbags in Used Cars

Side and roof airbags can save your life as they drop and inflate providing head protection in serious side crashes -- and they provide even more protection when cars are struck by larger SUVs and pickups, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

"We found lower fatality risks across the board among older and younger drivers, male and female drivers, and drivers of both small cars and larger passenger vehicles," said Anne McCartt, Institute vice president for research and an author of the study.

The IIHS report is more evidence for advocates demanding that the auto industry and the government accelerate efforts to incorporate head protection in more vehicles. Safety advocates have urged regulators and the industry to make the technology standard as soon as possible.

The overall research findings echo those of a 2003 Institute study of side airbag effectiveness in cars. The auto industry agreed then to equip all vehicles with side airbags with head protection as a standard feature by 2009.

"Once every passenger vehicle on the road has side airbags that include head protection for the front-seat occupants we can save as many as 2,000 lives per year," said McCartt.

In 2004, 2.7 million passenger vehicles were involved in side-impact crashes, according to police reports cited by the researchers and more than 9,000 people were killed.

IIHS researchers concluded side airbags that protect the torso reduced deaths by 26 percent in side-impact crashes. The same study also found that deaths declined by an estimated 37 percent when the vehicle was also equipped with side airbags that protect the head.

"Head protecting side airbags reduce driver fatality risk when cars are struck by SUVs and pickups, not just other cars," McCartt said.

Side airbag technology is relatively new and is included in about 80 percent of new cars and SUVs as standard or optional equipment.

The airbags vary by design. Some descend from the vehicle roof to protect the heads of occupants in both front and back seats. Combination side airbags inflate from the vehicle seat or sometimes the door. These protect occupants' torsos and heads too.

Pickup trucks aren't matching the pattern of rapidly being equipped with side airbags. Head-protecting bags are standard in only one 2006 model pickup. Fewer than half of all pickups have side airbags at all, standard or optional.

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