From: utzoo!decvax!cca!hplabs!hao!menlo70!sytek!zehntel!teklabs!ucbcad!ARPAVAX:CSVAX:npois!npoiv!harpo!duke!unc!smb@sri-unix
Newsgroups: net.auto
Title: Re: Cool air on bags
Article-I.D.: unc.3815
Posted: Mon Aug 16 14:14:54 1982
Received: Sat Aug 21 02:20:11 1982


A few factual items on airbags:

	a) NO ONE -- not Ralph Nader, not the government -- suggests
	replacing seatbelts with airbags; they're held to be complementary
	systems.  It is indeed recognized that airbags don't do much good
	except in head-on collisions.  Furthermore, an individual who is
	not properly located in the passenger compartment -- i.e., not in
	one of the standard seats -- faces some risk of injury from the
	airbag; wearing a seatbelt automatically means you're safe from
	that.

	b) Studies of the cars that do have airbags show that they have a
	fairly good reliability record; there are very few false triggers.

	c) More is known than one might guess about the types of accidents
	that can occur to folks who don't wear seatbelts.  Certain injuries
	essentially *never* occur to people who do wear them.

	d) Yes, there are risks in having airbags; there are also a few (a
	*very* few) accident situations where seatbelts do more harm than good.
	But those are quite rare; statistically speaking, you're far better
	off with seatbelts, and with airbags, than you are without them.