Side Impact Protection Failure
Unlike a head-on crash, where the front of the car (or "crumple-zone") may absorb a great deal of the impact, if you're hit from the side, only several inches of door and glass separate you from the oncoming vehicle.
The Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) reports that 10,000 deaths (about 25% of the total number) occur each year as a result of crashes to the side of the car. Because of these alarming statistics, auto manufactures have begun including side impact airbags in most of their new cars.
Although side air bags can help (assuming they work properly), they still offer little protection in a serious broadside crash. And they offer almost no protection at all against head injuries (a leading cause of death in side impact collisions). The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates that in side-impact crashes involving at least one fatality, nearly 60 percent of those killed have suffered brain injuries.
The DMV reports that 10,000 deaths occur each year as a result of crashes to the side of the car.
All vehicles on the road today have to pass the government's side impact standard, but many critics say these standards are outdated. The government uses a dummy representing an average size male that doesn't register head injuries, and its test only looks at what happens when similar size vehicles collide.
Car makers have announced new “voluntary” side impact protection guidelines scheduled to go into effect by September 2007. And the NHTSA says it is also working on a tougher standard for side impact crashes. But that standard will not require side airbags, even though studies show that if all the vehicles on U.S. roads were equipped with proper head protection side air bags, 700 to 1,000 lives would be saved per year in side impact crashes.
Unlike front air bags, side air bags are not required by NHTSA. Because they are not required safety equipment, the federal government does not mandate that vehicles be equipped with side air bags.
Side-Impact Air Bags and Children
Similar to the dangers of front air bags to children, side air bags can also cause severe injury to a small child or infant. Since side air bags were designed for adult size bodies, children and infants are especially vulnerable in side-impact crashes, and often sustain life-threatening head and neck injuries.
Because they aren't standard equipment yet, there are no real guidelines about activating side airbags in new cars. Some are safer for children than others, but part of the safety issue depends on what type of side airbag it is. Perhaps through litigation we can force a better design to become standard, and many more lives may be saved.
There currently is no federal standard for car seats in side-impact collisions.
If you or a loved one have been seriously injured due to a side-impact collision, please contact personal injury attorneys Horwitz, Horwitz & Associates for a free consultation.
- For more information to help you protect yourself and your loved ones, visit SaferCar.gov.
