Car Accident Attorneys.com Articles

Why Do We Need Advanced Frontal Air Bags

Advanced frontal air bag systems are designed to be even more effective than current—or "depowered"—air bags in saving lives, while at the same time reducing the potential of causing an air bag-induced serious injury or death (see Are advanced frontal air bags the same as "depowered" airbags?).

Some earlier generation air bags have been known to injure or kill adults and children who were seated too close to the driver or right front passenger air bag when it deployed. "Too close" can occur when an occupant, typically unbelted or leaning out of position, slides forward just before the crash impact (the period known as pre-crash braking) to within a few inches of or directly on top of the rapidly accelerating air bag. NHTSA estimates as of June, 2003, 231 people (144 children and 87 adults) have lost their lives in such incidents.

Advanced frontal air bags were designed primarily to minimize the risk of an air bag-related injury or death to children and small-stature adults. In crashes where a higher-powered air bag deployment would not be necessary and/or could cause injury, such as in a low-speed crash or in a crash where the occupant is leaning out of position, the system reduces the risk of an air bag injury by either: 1) shutting off (suppressing) the frontal air bag, or 2) deploying the frontal air bag with less inflation force.

• Alabama
• Alaska
• Arizona
• Arkansas
• California
• Colorado
• Connecticut
• DC
• Delaware
• Florida
• Georgia
• Hawaii
• Idaho
• Illinois
• Indiana
• Iowa
• Kansas
• Kentucky
• Louisiana
• Maine
• Maryland
• Massachusetts
• Michigan
• Minnesota
• Mississippi

• Missouri
• Montana
• Nebraska
• Nevada
• New Hampshire
• New Jersey
• New Mexico
• New York
• North Carolina
• North Dakota
• Ohio
• Oklahoma
• Oregon
• Pennsylvania
• Rhode Island
• South Carolina
• South Dakota
• Tennessee
• Texas
• Utah
• Vermont
• Virginia
• Washington
• West Virginia
• Wisconsin
• Wyoming