While the airbags in your car are a vital part of keeping you safe when an accident happens, you probably don’t know a whole lot about them. Some questions you may have include: How fast do you have to be going for the airbags to deploy, where are they, and can they hurt me?
Below, you’ll find the answers to many of your airbag questions. Hopefully, the information will transform your confusion into awe and respect as you start to understand just how much effort goes into keeping you safe during a car crash.
Where They Are
Before you can start to understand how airbags work, you must first know where they are so you’re not surprised when one deploys. The main ones you’ll find in pretty much all vehicles are in the front and sides of the car.
Front ones are hidden in the steering wheel and the dashboard, specifically right in front of the passenger seat. Sometimes, though, there is an extra one under the steering wheel whose goal is to protect your knees and keep the lower body from randomly jerking around.
Side airbags sit between the seat and the car door, but the exact position can vary. Some are one single bag that works to shield both the head and the body from side impacts at the same time.
Most vehicles likely use two airbags to achieve the same effect, with one resting against the window to more effectively protect from any broken glass and another, much lower one protecting the body from slamming into the car door or wall.
No matter where they come from, all airbags have a compartment that is clearly labeled. Look for these in your car if you’re curious about what types of airbags you have and where they are.
How They Work
If you’ve ever fallen down or suddenly walked into something, then you know how much it hurts. Going from moving to not suddenly causes a whole lot of issues, both on the inside and outside of the body. This is what airbags are meant to stop.
They provide a soft cushion that allows you to slow down, so when you do hit something, it doesn’t hurt anymore. You can actually watch this in action by looking up videos of people falling from really tall objects and landing safely on giant air mattress/bouncy castle hybrids.
However, this only explains half of the process, specifically the half that you can witness and probably have in many movies, TV shows, or even your own crashes. You still don’t know how they inflate so quickly or what’s inside of them. Airbag inflation starts with the car’s built-in crash sensor.
If the sensor determines that the force you’re experiencing is equal to or greater than the force of hitting a brick wall at a certain speed, typically at least ten miles per hour, then it will begin the inflation process.
Once this happens, a switch is flipped and two gases react to create nitrogen gas, which quickly fills the bag. This all happens very quickly, which is good news for anyone slamming into them. While it can sometimes cause injuries of its own, it protects you from some other pretty horrible ones, including death.
What the Risks Are
As mentioned, airbags aren’t completely safe; they can cause a few injuries of their own. For example, you can be burned if the airbag rubs across your skin too quickly during inflation or you come into contact with the reacting gases.
See, a key part of their reaction is heat. While this helps inflate the airbag, it isn’t too great if it hits your skin directly. Your eyes could also be harmed if you’re too close when it deploys, or you could experience some other kind of facial damage. Even things like whiplash and hearing loss are possibilities.
While all of this is true, think about this: seat belts can hurt you, too. Being held back in a crash might only cause minor chest pain and bruises, but it could also break a rib or two, cause shoulder problems or even injure your neck or digestive tract.
Despite this, you need to always wear a seatbelt because the alternative is being flung either into something or someone in the car or being thrown out of it altogether, which will all cause many more injuries. Death is also very likely in these cases. Airbags are very similar.
Without them, you’d slam around, possibly into the steering wheel or broken window. Don’t be afraid of these safety features because they might hurt you; be happy that they’re there and will likely save your life.
How to Stay Safe
Now that you know what your airbags do to help keep you safe, where they are and how they work, it's time to learn how to avoid being injured by them. Luckily, this is pretty simple. The first thing you need to do is to keep children under the age of thirteen out of the passenger seat. This is because of their size. They’re too small for the airbags to hit them in the right locations, so they could end up with serious injuries as a result.
As for those who are old enough to sit in the front, always sit in the correct position. Keep your feet on the floor and your back straight. Do not slouch or slump in your seat, and definitely don’t try to lie down.
Any of these positions increase the risk you’ll face in various ways, from having a higher chance of being flung around the vehicle to guaranteeing neck and spinal injury should the airbags deploy. The one position you should always avoid, though, is resting your feet on or above the dashboard. The results of crashing white in this position are quite gruesome.
Also, don’t rely entirely on your airbags to keep you safe in an accident. They can slow down an impact, but they can’t prevent you from flying around if you don’t wear your seat belt as well.
These two safety features are designed to work together, so don’t try to replace one with the other. Also, don’t block the airbag compartments. The bags may not deploy or may send items in the way flying, which are both entirely separate health risks.
