Airbags were originally designed to be used as a supplemental restraint
device to be used in conjunction with a seatbelt. The seatbelt was to hold
you in the seat in the initial collision, and as your head and torso started
moving forward afterwards the airbag prevents you from hitting the dash and
steering column.
Unfortunately because people wouldn't wear their seat belts they weren't
being held in the seat and were actually moving into the deploying airbag,
which caused injuries. So they lowered the power of the airbags so that
unrestrained bodies wouldn't hit the airbags as hard.
I don't believe there is problem with the state or federal governments
coming up with laws forcing people to wear seatbelts, the problem is with
the legal system forcing the government to come up with stupid laws and
forcing the manufacturers to change their vehicles. A perfect example of
this is a few years ago a father was driving a Dodge Caravan with his
daughter in the front seat, she was buckled in, but too small for the
seatbelt. She decided to change the radio station as her father was going
through a red light (yup he was breaking the law), so she slipped under the
shoulder belt and reached over to the radio just as they got t-boned. The
airbag deployed, and because of where she was located, fatally injured her.
A very unfortunate thing, but the father sued Chrysler and won. That's the
problem, if the courts are going to punish the manufacturers for the
driver's stupidity there are going to be stupid things done to the vehicles
and stupid laws made to protect the brainless morons.
All that said, I believe in using seatbelts. My father was a firefighter
for 28 years, and an ambulance attendant for 2 years before that, and he saw
too many survivable crashes with fatalities, while people wearing seat belts
in more serious accidents survived with minor injuries.
In one case a seatbelt stopped me from having an accident. I was driving
the highway at a reasonable speed when I came around a corner and hit a
frost heave (bump in the road caused by frost pushing it up over the
winter). This was a serious bump, the vehicle was in the air and objects in
the vehicle flew all over the place, but the seatbelt held me steady and I
was able to maintain control. I had bruises on my shoulders, but I was held
in my seat, I do not believe I would have been able to maintain control
without seatbelts.
2001 Intense Blue CC 4.7l 4x4 5-speed
-----Original Message-----
From: Josh Battles [mailto:jbattles@bankfinancial.com]
Sent: Tuesday, June 08, 2004 6:41 AM
To: dakota-truck-moderator@bent.twistedbits.net
Subject: Re: DML: Re: Re: Seat Belt Tickets??
"droo" <03dakotacc4.7_4x4@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:opr887p5n0wzx09r@mail.comcast.net...
>
> It's called an airbag. They are designed for peopel that don't wear belts.
>
> --
> -Droo
That's not true. IIRC, they proved that an airbag deployed in an accident
without a seatbelt will cause more harm than good. That's why you're still
required to sear a seatbelt.
Also, a seatbelt interlocking device was tried in the 60's I think, but it
failed miserably.
-- - Josh Lowered 2000 Dakota CC 3.9L www.geocities.com/lenny187/dakota.html www.omg-stfu.com
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