Tips to help ensure air bags are ready to do their job

AIRBAGS CAN SAVE YOUR LIFE, BUT THEY ALSO CAN CAUSE INJURY.

Airbags are extremely powerful, deploying at speeds as high as 200 miles per hour and within milliseconds of a crash.1

Different types of airbags.

1. Frontal Collision Airbags. Steering wheel and passenger's side dash mounted. Protect the head and torso.
2. Frontal collision passenger side front adaptive airbags. Standard in 2007 models and newer. Detect presence, weight and seat position. Deactivate or depower for children, small persons or occupants who are out of standard seating position.
3. Front and back side airbags. Protect torso.
4. Side curtain airbags. Protect head. Shield from flying debris. Stay inflated longer to provide greater protection in side impact and rollover collisions.

Airbags can help save lives.

• Frontal airbags helped save 2,213 lives in 2012.
• Frontal airbags help reduce deaths among drivers by 29 percent and front-seat passengers by 32 percent.¹
• Side airbags with head protection help reduce driver death in driver-side crashes by 37 percent in a car and 52 percent in an SUV.²
• But they also can cause injury.
• From 1990 to 2007, airbags seriously injured 38 children and 15 adults and killed 180 children and 104 adults.
• These tips can help minimize airbag injuries.
• Always wear a seatbelt.
• Keep no fewer than 10 inches between both the driver's body and the center of the steering wheel airbag and the front-seat passenger and the dashboard airbag.
• Move the seat as far back as safely possible.
• Never let children younger than 12 ride in the front seat.
• Service airbags immediately if the airbag light is illuminated or blinking.
• Always replace airbags after deployment.

¹ Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, Highway Loss Data Institute; http://www.iihs.org/

² National Highway Traffic Safety Administration; Special Crash Investions; Counts of Front Air Bag Related Fatalities and Seriously Injured Persons; http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov