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Side Airbags Saving Lives, Study Finds

August 26, 2003

• Feds Require Side Curtain Airbags by 2013 • New Study: Side and Roof Airbags Save Lives • Study: Aggressive Driving Negates Benefits of Safety Devices • Feds Probe Airbag Problems in Chrysler Minivans • Statistics Show Airbags Getting Safer • NHTSA Grants Airbag Exemption to SUV • Honda Puts Airbag on Motorcycle • Front Airbags Risky for Teens • Airbag Fraud Endangers Motorists • Airbag Switch-Off Results Mixed • Side Airbags Saving Lives, Study Finds --- • Special Report: Certified Dangerous: Airbags in Used Cars

Side airbags that include head protection are reducing deaths by about 45 percent among drivers of passenger cars struck on the near (driver) side. Side airbags that protect the chest and abdomen, but not the head, also are reducing deaths, but they're less effective (about 10 percent).

These are the major findings of an Insurance Institute for Highway Safety study of the real-world effectiveness of side airbags. It's the first such study to estimate the effectiveness of this type of occupant protection.

Each year more than 9,000 passenger vehicle occupants die in side impacts. Head injuries are a leading cause. The new research findings mean the toll should be reduced in the future.

"The need for head protection in side impacts has been obvious for some time," says Institute president Brian O'Neill. "Before head-protecting airbags were available there was virtually nothing to prevent people's heads from being struck by intruding vehicles or rigid objects like trees and poles in serious side impact crashes. Now we know side airbags can change this and do a good job of protecting heads."

When occupants' heads are in the window areas of vehicles they're especially vulnerable to being struck by intruding vehicles or objects. O'Neill points out that "the increasing number of high-riding vehicles on the road these days increases this risk, making it more likely that the front end of a striking vehicle in a side impact will hit the heads of occupants in the struck vehicle. This is why side airbags with head protection are so important."

Side airbags that protect the torso only don't represent as fundamental a safety improvement. They're an alternative way to protect the chest and abdomen in a side impact, but not the only way. Padding the vehicle interior also can protect occupants' torsos.

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