Oh no! Do ya know what requirements she has to fill in order to ride? Is it age or weight? ... this kind of reminds me of go-karting! That'd be a shame as she's a total sports car fanatic (just like her aunt)!

 

Out of curiosity, why do people want to disable the airbag with a child in the passenger seat? With the exception of the seat being all the way forward, or a rearward facing child seat, I can't think of any case where an airbag would hurt a child any more than the dash would in a collision.

Here are the possible scenarios as I see it where an airbag would hurt a kid:

1) Kid not strapped, in, and is sitting/playing/standing close to the airbag during a collision (the idea being that the explosive force of the airbag would hit the kid hurting him/her).

2) Kid strapped in, but seat way the heck forward.

With 1), the kid's gonna die/be seriously hurt in any collision that would set off the airbag (think about it, glass/dash doesn't offer much padding, a 30mph crash is like dropping the child off a 4 story building and having the child do a belly flop onto concrete), basically the airbag wouldn't change things. The parent of this kid should go to jail for unnecessarily risking his/her child's life IMO.

With 2), you can solve this problem by moving the seat back out of range of the airbag.

Basically, I cannot for the life of me understand how disabling an airbag would help in the survival of a child in a collision. Please, someone enlighten me, as I've seen many many people talk about wanting this feature in a car so they can take their kid with them. I simply refuse to believe that the airbag switch issue is simply an Urban Myth, there *has* to be something that everyone is worried about.

Thanks for helping a puzzled s2k driver!

 

Have you ever been smacked in the face by an air bag?

It is like getting a basketball in the face, but about 20x harder.

There is NO WAY I will ever put any kid in my S2000 while it still has airbags.

I am removing both airbags completely. (they'll be for sale soon).

I do sit as far back as the seat can go.

Seat belts are where it's at. I will be installing 4-pt harnesses both sides.

My 2 cents, change not needed.

 

All of the documented child/airbag fatalities involved improperly restrained or out of position children.

 

even the one child that was killed because of the airbags going off in a small fender bender ?

I wouldn't conclude 'all', but you could say a majority of them could be concluded that way.

 

Not aware of that one. Details?

 

http://www.airbagswitches.com/


Here is a company that makes good switch systems for air-bags. It is a good way to go if you are going to put small children in the car. Remember to still use the car seat (Front facing only) and put the seat back as far as possible.


Hugh

 

I just spoke Bob Brown @ www.airbagswitches.com he will give us a group buy price if we have 25 orders. The price will be $115 for a minumum order of 25. Do we have enough interest in keeping our kids safe to spend $115? Reply to this post so we can get an idea.

 

This is a bit of a tired topic, and I think it might make sense to put the best arguments for and against, into the FAQ.

Mine... against...

Read the NHSTA site quoted by lvs2k. I believe you will find that around 50 fatalities have resulted from airbag deployment on children.

of these, i believe 29 of the children were unrestrained, and seven were unacceptably close. Do read the stats as i'm not fresh on this. Anyway, it leave some single digit number of kids killed while properly restrained. Contrast this with the thousands that have been saved, and I think you will find that it is a better bet to have the bag on.

Remember that the fatality zone is if the person/child is within 10" of the bag at the moment of impact - making them be even closer when they fly forward and contact the bag.

It is my opinion that if one's child can't be controlled to be restrained and more than 10" away from the dash, they shouldn't be in the car - much less a convertible - with or without the airbag.

Read the stats on the nhsta site, and make your decision.

Mine is that the probablilty fatality due to the bag being off when needed thanks to the switch, is greater than the probability of fatality due to the bag going off unexpectadly. Caveat... if your kid does not have seatbelts on or is all over the cabin... then all bets are off.


Best

Dan

ps. I wouln't rely on a vendor of switches for the statistics supporting their use.

 

1badride, have you ever been smaked in the face by a windshield or a dash? I suspect the airbag smack would be a little less harsh. Keep in mind, a 20mph crash is like being dropped, belly-first, onto concrete from a 2 story window. Have you ever seen a watermelon explode upon impact from this height? Are you saying that an airbag would be *worse* than this?

Someone did a left turn in front of me 4 years ago when my Civic was 3 weeks old, and I hit him at about 30mph. The airbags deployed. I didn't even hit the driver-side airbag, and I drive about 1 ft away from the steering wheel. I have a vivid image in my mind of the passenger airbag in it's deployed state, and it wasn't more than 6-9 inches away from the dash. However, I do remember that the airbag shattered the front windshield on deployment, which is why I *NEVER* allow anyone to put anything anywhere near the airbag.

A basketball to the face at 20x impact is still far less than the windshield or dash in a 20mph+ collision. I agree with you, properly used seat belts are far more effective than airbags. In fact if you use the seatbelts right, you won't even come close to the airbags unless you drive like 6" away from the steering wheel (I know some small women who actually do this due to their size, so it's an issue for them).

I still don't understand how you can be hurt by an airbag in a situation where you won't be hurt worse w/o the airbag. Unless you're wearing a seatbelt and are really really close to the bag.