The initial questions in the survey dealt with knowledge of the switch and perceptions about air bags.  We wanted to know if the drivers knew that they had on-off switches for the passenger air bags; if they knew how to use the switches; and how they actually used them.  There was some speculation before the survey that the driving public might be afraid of air bags because of the documented cases where people have been killed by air bags.  There was also some speculation before the survey that drivers may turn off the air bags to avoid replacing them after a crash.  The survey sought to answer these questions and conjectures.  The findings on overall perceptions about air bags and overall use of passenger air bag on-off switches are in the first section of this chapter.

The most important information the survey provided was how the switches were being used.  NHTSA recommends that the passenger air bag be deactivated when there is a child in the front seat and activated for the adult passengers.  Six mutually exclusive groups of passengers were studied:

• A child in rear-facing child safety seat in the front seat,
  
• An infant in the front seat (less than 1 year old), not in a rear-facing safety seat,
  
• Only child passengers in the front seat (1-12 years old), not in a rear-facing safety seat,
  
• A child (1-12 years old) and an adult passenger (older than 12 years old) in the front seat,
  one in the center and the other in the outboard position,
  
• Only adult passengers in the front seat (older than 12 years old), and
• Pickup trucks without any front seat passengers.

Table 5 shows that 48 percent of the air bags were left on when only child passengers 1-12 years old were in the front seat and 62 percent when a child and an adult passenger were in the front seat, potentially exposing these children to a deployment.  Drivers transporting infants not in rear-facing child safety seats  turned the air bag off in all cases, but these infants could still be severely injured or killed in a crash because they were not properly restrained in a rear-facing child safety seat.  Drivers transporting children in rear-facing child safety seats achieved the next highest percentage: 83 percent turned off the passenger air bags and only 17 percent left them on.

There is also a problem when drivers ride with only adult passengers. While 83 percent of the switches were on, as they should be, 17 percent were switched off. Many of these trucks often transport children, and the drivers either forgot to turn the switch on or kept the switch turned off permanently to guarantee their child would not be exposed to deployments. However, this deprived the adult passengers of any potential benefits of air bags. Surprisingly, 15 percent of drivers without any front seat passengers had the air bag turned off. In most of these cases, the air bag had been turned off to protect a child previously riding in the vehicle.  

Table 5: Observed On-Off Switch Use by Driver and Passenger Group

Each driver and passenger group will be discussed in detailed later in this chapter.

Perceptions

The surveyors conducted 3,283 interviews.  The trucks had to have a passenger air bag, but not necessarily a passenger air bag on-off switch.  Pickup trucks that were stopped by the survey teams and did not have a passenger air bag were not interviewed and not included in the study.  Table 6 shows the observed status of the air bag switch for the trucks included in the survey. 

Table 6:  Observed Status of the Air Bag Switch

The surveyors observed that 97 percent of the pickup trucks had an on-off switch for the passenger air bag.  This is slightly different from what drivers said.  Ninety-eight percent (3,224) of the drivers interviewed said that their vehicle had an on-off switch.  The surveyors did not observe a switch in 7 of those vehicles and could not see if there was a switch in 9 other vehicles.  Two percent of the drivers (59) said their vehicle did not have an on-off switch.  The survey team observed a switch in 6 of those vehicles and in 2 vehicles they could not see if there was a switch.  Most of the drivers interviewed knew whether their vehicles did or did not have a passenger air bag on-off switch. 

There were 3,182 cases where the air bag status was observed.  In 97 percent of these cases (3,087), the air bag status given by the drivers matched the observed air bag status - i.e., the driver said the air bag was on and the surveyors observed the air bag to be on or vice versa.  In 2 percent of the cases (62), the air bag status given by the drivers was opposite the observed status i.e., the driver said the air bag switch was off when it was observed to be on or vice versa.  In 23 cases, the driver did not know or refused to answer, “Is the air bag currently turned on or off?”  In the other 6 cases, the driver said the vehicle did not have an on-off switch.

We interviewed 668 drivers who said they had the air bag turned off and gave a reason for turning off the air bag.  Table 7 shows the reason these drivers gave for turning the air bag off.  Sixty-five percent of the drivers stated that they turned the air bag off for an infant or child and 1 percent for small or fragile adult.  This table does not imply correct use, only the reasons given for having the air bag turned off.

Some of the reasons given do not explain why the air bag was turned off.  Ten percent of the drivers said they like, prefer, or always turn the air bag off.  From that response it is unclear if the drivers always turn it off because they always have a front seat child passenger or because they are afraid of air bags. 

Table 7: Current Reason for Turning the Air Bag Off
(668 Drivers Who Said the Air Bag Was “Off”)

Six percent of the drivers turn the air bag off because they do not like air bags or are afraid of them.  It also appears to be true that some drivers turned them off because the air bag is too expensive to replace.  One percent explicitly stated they turned the air bag off to save on replacement costs.  Another 5 percent turned them off when there is no right front passenger.  This could be simply that there is no passenger to protect or it could be to save the driver the cost to replace it.  In either case, it does not matter how some of these reasons are categorized.  The most important finding is that not all drivers stated that they turn them off to protect a child, infant, or fragile adult, whereas NHTSA says the switches should only be turned off to protect babies in rear facing infant seat, children, or adults at risk because of an unusual medical or physical condition.

The surveyors asked all drivers, “How often do you turn off the passenger air bag?”  Forty-nine percent of the drivers responded that they had turned the air bag off at least once.  Table 8 shows the reasons those drivers gave for turning the air bag off.  Again only 67 percent of these drivers had turned the air bag off for an infant or child.

Table 8:  Reason For Turning The Air Bag Off
(1,441 Drivers Who Had Turned the Air Bag Off at Least Once)

Fifty-one percent of the drivers responded that they had never turned the air bag off.  The surveyors asked the drivers who had never turned the air bag off, “Under what circumstances, if any, would you turn it off?”  Table 9 shows the reasons given.  This table shows that 23 percent of the drivers who had never turned the air bag off would turn it off for an infant or child.  Another 12 percent would turn it off for an infant or child passenger but explicitly stated that they had never had an infant or child passenger (7 percent) or that this was a work truck (5 percent).  

Most drivers of pickup trucks know their vehicles have a passenger on-off air bag switch.  About two thirds of the drivers who have used the switch and even 35 percent of the drivers who have never used the switch volunteered that the primary purpose of the switch was to prevent children from being exposed to an air bag deployment.

Vehicles with Rear-Facing Child Safety Seats in the Front Seat

NHTSA believes that the air bag absolutely must be turned off if a rear-facing child safety seat is in the front seat, i.e., center front seat or right front seat.  An air bag must inflate quickly to create a cushion that protects occupants during frontal crashes.  The quickly deploying air bag strikes the back of the rear-facing child restraint with tremendous force creating a situation whereby the infant might be injured.  The passenger air bag when it deploys is large enough that the bag could hit the back of a rear-facing child restraint even in the center seat. 

The survey included 23 vehicles with a rear-facing child seat in the front seat.  Drivers turned the air bag off 83 percent of the time (19 out of 23) when there was a rear-facing child safety seat in the front seat.  Table 10 shows the air bag status by age of the child.

The air bag was turned on in four vehicles with rear-facing child seats in the front seat.  These drivers were putting the children at risk of serious injury or death if the air bag deployed.  Three of the child seats were in the right front seat.  The fourth child was in the center front seat and an adult was in the right front seat of this vehicles.  Two of these drivers were driving somebody else’s truck, an unfamiliar vehicle.  The other two drivers thought the air bag was turned off and said they turned it off to protect their child. 

Vehicles with an Infant in the Front Seat (Not in a Rear-Facing Safety Seat)

The agency says that children less than one year old should be restrained in a rear-facing child safety seat.  There were 5 infants in the survey in forward-facing child safety seats. [10]   Four of these infants were in the right front seat; the other was in the center seat.  The air bag was turned off for all of these infants, but they are still at high risk in a crash because they should have been in a rear-facing, not a forward-facing child safety seat.  There was one other infant in the right front seat with the air bag turned off but the surveyor did not know what type of restraint this infant was using.

Vehicles with Only Child Passengers Age 1-12 in the Front Seat

NHTSA considers children 1 to 12 years old in a risk group that preferably should not be exposed to an air bag.  We have recently clarified our policy to state that if a child 1-12 years old must sit in the front and a switch is available, it should be turned off. 

Most vehicles with only child passengers in the front seat had only a right front passenger and 50 percent of these vehicles had the air bag turned off.  Table 11 shows the air bag status by seating position of child passenger.  The air bag was turned on in 25 percent of the cases when a vehicle had child passengers in the center and right front seat and was turned on in 22 percent of the cases when a vehicle had only a child in the center front seat.

Table 12 shows that the percentage of switches turned on increased as children grew older.  Air bags were left on for 26 percent of children aged 1-6, already a substantial deterioration from the 17 percent that left the air bag on for children in rear-facing child safety seats.  This increased to 41 percent at age 7-8, 53 percent at age 9-10, and increased to 70 percent at age 11-12.  

The driver often explained during the interview why the air bag was on or off.  In some cases, the driver thought the air bag was off or forgot to turn the air bag off.  In other cases, the air bag was intentionally on.  In these cases, the drivers said air bags only needed to be turned off for babies, or for children younger than their passenger – or they left the switch on all the time, thinking that air bags were safe for all of their passengers. 

Table 13 shows the intended air bag status by age of the child passenger.  This table excludes drivers who did not know what the switch was for, drivers unfamiliar with the pickup, and drivers who did not respond.  It appears that most drivers knew that toddlers (1-4 years old) may be at increased risk to injury from a deploying air bags.  Some of the drivers of toddlers with the air bag on knew the child was safer with the air bag off.  In 6 cases, the driver said they sometimes or frequently turn off the air bag when a child is in the front seat, but did not when they were surveyed.  In two cases not shown in the table, the current driver did not turn the air bag off, but the drivers who frequently travel with these children do turn the air bag off.  In one case, the driver knew his wife turned the air bag off for the children.  In the other case, the driver said, “daughter turns off when she is driving.”

About a third of the drivers felt that the air bags were safe for young school-aged children (5 – 9 years old).  But more than half of the drivers with 11 and 12 year old passengers felt that the child was big enough to be exposed to an air bag. 

Since height and weight often correlate to the age it is not surprising that the percentage of switches turned on increased as the child passengers got heavier (Table 14) and taller (Table 15).

Table 14:  Air Bag Status by Weight of the Child for
Vehicles with Only Child Passengers in the Front Seat

Table 16 shows that the percentage of air bags switched on increased as the drivers got older.  More than likely most of the 1-12 year old front seat passengers are probably children of the drivers.  Since younger parents tend to have younger children than the older parents and the percentages of switches off decrease as the children get older then older drivers should have the air bag switched on more than younger drivers.  Column 5 of Table 16 shows the average age of the front seat passengers by driver’s age category. 

The survey included more female drivers than male drivers when a child is in the front seat.  This is unusual for pickup trucks since men mostly drive pickups.  But it is probably more common for mothers to transport their children than fathers during daytime, when the survey was conducted. 

Overall, male drivers tend to switch the air bag on for 1-12 year old front seat passengers more than female drivers, but this is not true for all age groups of front seat passengers.  Table 17 shows that 52 percent of male drivers and 43 percent of female drivers activated the air bag when only child passengers were in the front seat.  For both female and male drivers, the percentage of air bags turned on tends to increase as the children get older.

Table 17 also shows the average age of the child by driver’s gender and air bag status.  Female drivers had slightly younger aged passengers than male drivers.  

Table 17: Air Bag Status by Driver’s Gender and Child Passenger’s Age
for Vehicles with Only Child Passengers in the Front Seat

Slightly more white and Hispanic-Latino drivers turn the air bag on for children than African-American drivers.  Table 18 shows the air bag status by driver’s race.  There is little difference in the use of the switches by white and Hispanic-Latino drivers. 

A logistic regression analysis on the dependent variable air bag status and independent variables age of the child, age of the driver, gender of the driver, and race of the driver, shows only that the age of the child was significant.  Drivers of older children turned the air bag on significantly more than drivers of younger children.  The chi-square tests and logistic regressions throughout the report are descriptive tools only, and the “significance” for these results mean they would have been significant had our sample been a simple random sample. 

Table 19 shows that 98 percent of children in vehicles with only child passengers in the front seat were restrained.  Only 8 children were unrestrained.  Most 1-2 year old children were in front facing safety seats [11] .  Most 5-12 year olds were lap/shoulder belted.  Almost all of the lap belted children were in the center seat. 

Restraint use for toddlers 1 to 4 years old in this survey was about the same as the national average, but restraint use for children 5 to 12 years old in this survey was much higher than the national average.  The National Occupant Protection Use Survey (NOPUS) done in the fall of 2000 found that 45 percent of youth (5-15 years old) and 99 percent of toddler (1-4 years old) passengers were restrained in pickup trucks. [12]   Youths in the right front passenger seat were “restrained” if in a shoulder belt.  Toddlers were counted as “restrained” if they were in a child safety seat or a shoulder belt (but not if in a lap belt) in either the front or rear seat.  State surveys in California and Georgia during 2001 also found that 94 percent of infants and toddlers were restrained.  The State surveys had no information on restraint use for youths.  The high percentage of youths restrained in our survey suggests a bias.  It may be that drivers with unrestrained children in pickup trucks decided not to participate in our survey.  

Table 20 shows that the percentage of air bag on for children in a front facing safety seat11 is smaller than the percent of air bag on for children restrained by a lap/shoulder belt. 

Vehicles with a Child and an Adult Passenger in the Front Seat

NHTSA considers children 1 to 12 years old in a risk group that preferably should not be exposed to an air bag whereas nearly all adult passengers age 13 or older most likely would benefit from air bags.  Therefore, drivers with both a child and an adult in the front seat (one in the outboard position and one in the center position) face a dilemma: Should they turn the air bag off to protect the child or keep it on to protect the adult?  While we might have expected most drivers to turn it off, the survey reveals that this is not so.  Only 38 percent of the air bags were turned off when both a child and an adult were in the front seat.  Most of these vehicles contain a child in the center front seat and an adult in the right front seat. 

Drivers with an adult in the right front seat are more likely to turn the air bag on than drivers with a child in the right front seat.  Table 21 shows air bag status by age of the center and right front passengers.  The air bag was turned on in 65 percent of the cases when an adult was in the right front seat.  When a child was in the right front seat, the air bag was turned on in only 45 percent of the cases.  This is similar to the percent found turned on when only child passengers were in the front seat. 

Table 22 shows the air bag status by placement of the child and age of the child.  It appears that placement of younger children (1-6 years old) has an effect on the status of the air bag switch.  More than half of the air bags were turned on when a 1-6 year old child was in the front center seat but only 20 percent were turned on when in the right front seat.  There does not appear to be an effect on air bag status by child placement for older children (7-12 years old).  About the same percentages of air bags were turned on when 7-12 year olds were in the center front as when they were in the right front seat.

Table 22: Air Bag Status by Placement and Age of Child
for Vehicles with Only a Child and an Adult in the Front Seat

A Chi-square test of independence on air bag status and child placement for 1-6 year old children show placement of the child was not significant.  This means that drivers of young children in the center and adults in the right front seat are not turning the air bag on significantly more often than drivers of young children in the right and adults in the center front seat.  It may be that there are not enough 1-6 year old cases for a statistically meaningful analysis.  

Seventy-four percent of the drivers were male.  And 65 percent of the male drivers turned the air bag on when a child and an adult passenger were in the front seat.  A logistic regression shows that gender of the driver does not significantly affect the status of the air bag switch.  However, it appears more female drivers know the air bags are dangerous for children in the center front seat than male drivers.  Table 23 shows 46 percent of the female drivers turned the air bag on when a child was in the center front seat.  This percentage is similar to the percentage of female drivers (44 percent) who turned the air bag on for vehicles with only child passengers in the front seat.  But it appears that most male drivers think that the air bag is more dangerous for children in the right front seat.  They turned the air bag on in 71 percent of the cases where a child was in the center front seat and 44 percent when a child was in the right front seat. 

Vehicles with Only Adult Passengers in the Front Seat

The passenger air bag poses no risk to almost all adults over 12 years old if they are belted and correctly seated.  Only adult passengers with unusual medical or physical conditions “who have been advised by a physician that an air bag poses a special risk to them because of their condition” [13] should turn the air bag off.  NHTSA recommends that short people, tall people, older people and pregnant women can safely sit behind an air bag if they wear their seat belt and can sit 10 inches behind where the air bag is stored.  Even belted adults without the air bag could hit their head, neck or chest in a crash that could cause serious or fatal injuries.  Therefore, turning the air bag off when an adult right front passenger is present increases the risk of serious or fatal injuries.

The survey included 1,020 pick-up trucks with only adult (13 years old or older) passengers in the front seat.  Most of the trucks had only an adult passenger in the right front seat (948).  There were 58 cases with an adult passenger in the center front and right front seat and 14 cases with only an adult passenger in the center front seat.

Table 24 shows the air bag status by age of the adult right front passenger.  The air bag was turned off for a higher percentage of senior right front passengers (70 years old and older) than any other age group.  Drivers are more likely to turn off the passenger air bag when an older adult is riding behind the air bag than any other adult age group.  Forty-four percent of the air bags that were switched off for 70 year old and older passengers were doing so to protect the older passengers.  One driver said “He couldn’t handle it if it opened.”  Obviously, many people know about the risk of air bags for short, elderly drivers who must sit close to the steering wheel, and they mistakenly assume a similar risk for passengers, who can sit far away from the instrument panel.

The air bag was also turned off for a slightly higher percentage of young teenage passengers (13-15 years old) than 16-69 years old passengers.  Some parents feel that their teenage children should not be exposed to an air bag.  Sixty-one percent of the air bags that were switched off for young teenage passengers are being turned off to protect the teenager.  One parent said referring to his 14 year old, 6 foot 1 inch son, “I do not want my kid to be injured.”  Another parent said, “I think they are still too small.”  He was referring to his 14 and 15 year old daughters sitting in the center and right front seats, respectively. 

Fifteen percent of the passenger air bags were turned off when 16 to 69 year old adults were seated in the right front seat.  Table 25 shows the reason why the air bag was turned off for these adult passengers.  The most common reasons given are: don’t like air bags, sometimes has a child passenger, and adult driver or passenger wants the air bag off. 

There were five cases in which the driver turned the air bag off to protect his/her older teenaged (16-19 year old) child currently in the front seat.  Sixteen percent of the air bags were off because the driver sometimes or often transports a child in the front seat.  In four of these cases, the driver always left the air bag off because they sometimes have a child passenger and do not want to forget to turn it off whenever the child is in the front seat.  In eight cases, the driver frequently or sometimes turned the air bag off because a child is sometimes a passenger.  In the remaining nine cases, it is unclear if the driver intentionally left the air bag off because they sometimes have a child passenger.  In nine other cases, the driver had forgot to turn the air bag on for the adult right front passenger.  In three of those cases, the driver said they recently had a child in the front seat. 

NHTSA does not endorse keeping the air bag off all the time if children are frequently transported in the front seat.  NHTSA implicitly precautions against this, saying, “Since the air bag will not automatically turn itself back on after you turn it off with the on-off switch, you must remember to turn it on when someone who is not at risk is sitting in that seat.  Every on-off switch has a light to remind you when the air bag is turned off.” [14]  

Nevertheless, this is a decision that anyone who must frequently transport children in the front seat will have to make for themselves, taking into account how likely they might be to forget turning it back off for the child, the relative frequency of adult and child passengers, and the age of the child.  Ideally, a driver who is fully alert to the status of the switch should preferably turn it on for adults, off for children, and should review the status of the switch before each trip.  

We surveyed more male drivers (739) with only adult passengers in the front seat than female drivers (278).  This is not surprising since most pick-up trucks drivers are male.  Again, slightly more female drivers turn the air bag off than their male counterparts when only adult passengers were in the front seat.  This is similar to vehicles with babies or children in the front seat.  The air bag should be turned off when a baby or a child is present in the front seat.  It should be turned on when only an adult is in the front seat.  Table 26 shows that more female drivers turn the air bag off than male drivers for any age group of adult passengers except 13 – 19 year old passengers. 

Table 26: Air Bag Status by Sex Of Driver and Age of Right Front Passenger
for Vehicles with Only an Adult Passenger in the Front Seat

A Chi-square test of independence on air bag status and gender of driver shows that overall female drivers turn off the air bag significantly more than male drivers when only adult passengers were in the front seat. 

In this survey, 95 percent of the adult right front passengers in the front seat of vehicles with only adult passengers in the front seat were restrained.  Again, this is a substantially higher rate of belt use than in the NOPUS 2000, indicating a possible bias that belt users were more willing to participate in the survey.  The NOPUS found 45 percent of young adults (16 –24 years old), 61 percent of adults (25-69 years old) and 39 percent of seniors (70 years old and older) were using a shoulder belt.  The percent of air bags turned off is nearly the same for belt users and nonusers.  Seventeen percent of the restrained and 18 percent of the unrestrained adult right front passengers in the front seat were in a vehicle with the passenger air bag turned off.  This implies that even safety-conscious passengers are riding behind a deactivated air bag.

Vehicles Without Any Passengers in the Front Seat

This group of vehicles has only drivers in the front seat.  Therefore, there is no passenger whose risk is affected by how the switch is set.  This section is just for comparison with the other groups of passengers.

Twenty to twenty-nine and thirty to thirty-nine year old drivers have the highest percentage of switches turned off.  Table 27 shows the passenger air bag status by driver age.  Twenty to thirty-nine year old drivers are more likely to have children and therefore more likely to occasionally have child passengers between 0-12 years than older drivers.  The most common reason that drivers without any passenger in the front seat gave for turning off the air bag was to protect a child that was previously riding in the front seat. 

Regional

The sample was too limited to have any “regional” estimates.  However, this section shows the amount of data collected by each team and the variation of results from team to team.  Table 28 shows the number of surveys collected by team and type of vehicle occupant.  Only five teams found children in rear-facing child safety seats and those same five teams surveyed most of the children.  The other teams either did not collect data very long or were unsuccessful surveying trucks with children in the front seat.

Table 29 shows the air bag status and percentage of air bags turned off by team for vehicles with only adult passengers in the front seat.  Muscogee, Bexar, and Harris Counties have a higher percentage of air bags turned off than the other counties.  In these cases, the air bag should have been on to protect the adult.  A chi-square test of independence on air bag status and team was statistically significant, indicating significant variation from one team to another.  

Table 30 shows the air bag status and percentage of air bags turned on by team for vehicles with only children or child and adult passengers in the front seat.  When only child passengers are in the front seat, Muscogee, Bexar, Smith and Upshur counties have a higher percentage of air bags turned on than the other counties.  When a child and an adult are in the front seat, the percentage of air bags turned on is about the same as when only children are in the front for Muscogee, Bexar, Smith and Upshur counties.  In these cases, the air bag should have been off to protect the child.

A simple Chi-square test is not meaningful here, because different areas of the country may have a different age population of children.  In fact, an Analysis of Variance showed a significant difference in the age of children by team.  The children surveyed in Muscogee County were older than in the other counties.  Nevertheless, a logistic regression analysis on air bag status showed a significant difference among teams even after controlling for age. 

Differences in air bag status by teams may be due to regional differences.  Specifically, it may be that drivers in Muscogee County do not know that when air bags deploy, they are dangerous to children in the front seat.  Or generally it may be that drivers in rural counties do not know that air bags are dangerous to children in the front seat.  Of course, the number of counties in the study is too small to draw conclusions.  However, the other rural counties in the study, Smith and Upshur Counties, also had a high 40 percent of the air bags turned on when a child was in the front seat.  But at least most of these drivers knew that the air bag was dangerous to the infants in rear-facing child safety seats.  In Smith and Upshur Counties, only 1 out of 12 infants were in the front seat of vehicles with the passenger air bag turned on whereas in Muscogee County 2 out of 2 infants were in the front seat of vehicles with the passenger air bag turned on.

Distance Requirement

NHTSA recommends that front seat occupants who cannot keep 10 inches between the center of the air bag cover and their breastbone should turn the air bag off.  “Air bags are designed to save lives and prevent injuries by cushioning occupants as they move forward in a front-end crash.  By providing a cushion, an air bag keeps the occupant’s head, neck, and chest from hitting the steering wheel or dashboard.  To perform well, an air bag must deploy quickly.  The force is greatest in the first 2 to 3 inches after the air bag bursts through its cover and begins to inflate. …occupants who are properly restrained and sit 10 inches away from the air bag cover will contact the air bag only after it has completely or almost completely inflated.” [15]

The distance between the center of the air bag cover and the driver and right front passenger was observed in the survey.  It was impractical to measure this distance.  The observer only recorded whether these passengers seemed to meet the 10-inch requirement or not.  Four percent of drivers in the survey sat less than 10 inches away from the air bag cover on the steering wheel.  Four percent of right front passengers also sat less than 10 inches from the air bag cover on the dashboard.  Table 31 shows that a higher percentage of children in rear-facing child safety seats in the right front position did not meet the distance requirement than the other types of right front passengers.

Table 31: Observed Distances from Right Front Passengers to Air Bag

It appears that drivers who are transporting a child in the right front seat who is less than 10 inches from the air bag are more likely to turn the air bag off to protect the child.  The air bag was turned off in 64 percent of the cases where a right front child passenger sat closer than 10 inches to the air bag, while 51 percent of the air bags were turned off when a right front child passenger was more than 10 inches from the air bag.

The same is true for right front adult passengers.  It appears that drivers who are transporting an adult in the right front seat who is less than 10 inches from the air bag are also more likely to turn the air bag off to protect the adult.  Forty percent of right front adult passengers who were less than 10 inches from the air bag had the air bag turned off, whereas, only 18 percent of the right front adult passengers who were more than 10 inches from the air bag had the air bag turned off.  None of these drivers gave a distance reason (he/she is too tall/heavy) as the reason for turning off the air bag.

Child Placement

Air bag on-off switches were initially allowed in pickup trucks because some pickup trucks do not have back seats and most of the pickup trucks that do have a back seat cannot accommodate a rear-facing child safety seat anywhere except in the front seat.  Children less than 13 years old are also at increased risk from a deploying air bag.  NHTSA recommends placing these children in the back seat of vehicles where they are safest.  An earlier section of this report discussed how the switches were being used for children less than 13 years old.  But also of interest is:  Do children have to be in the right front seat of pickup trucks?  If so, why must they be placed there?  If not, then why are they placed there and what would cause the child to be placed elsewhere in the vehicle?

The survey identified whether a pickup truck had a back seat or not and described the type of back seat.  The survey also counted the number of occupants in the back seat of the truck but the age of these occupants was not collected.  Thus, we cannot identify if children are in the back seat of vehicles.  But we can identify whether there were other available seats in the vehicle or children had to be seated in the front seat.

A NHTSA brochure states some reasons that children in child safety seats would have to be placed in the front seat of certain pickup trucks even if the truck has a back seat:

• "Small back seats"--Many pickup trucks are too small to properly accommodate some child seats, especially those in the rear-facing position.   

• Splits in bench seats--Splits in wide bench seats can make it difficult to install a child seat correctly.  

• Pickup trucks jump seats/extended cabs – Child seats will not fit properly in many pickup truck rear seats.  There is not enough space between the rear of the front seat and the child to allow forward motion in the event of a crash or even a sudden stop.  Side facing jump seats are not safe for a child seat under any circumstances.” [16]  

There were 68 vehicles in the survey with a child in a child safety seat that was placed in the front seat.  Sixty-three of the children were placed in the right front position and five were placed in front center position.  Twenty-three of the vehicles had a back bench seat and 21 (21/68 = 31 percent) of these trucks had a seating position available in the back seat, but it is unknown if the child safety seat could have been properly installed in the available rear seating position.

Table 32 shows the number of children in the front seat not in child safety seats by type of back seat.  Over 70 percent of the pickup trucks with a child in the front seat had a rear bench seat.  Children are safest when properly restrained in the back seat whether the vehicle has an air bag or not.  It is not known whether jump seats in the back of extended cab pickup trucks are safer for children than front seats.  But clearly bench seats in the back of crew cab pickup trucks are safer for children than the front seat.  Ninety-eight percent [17] of the children in the front seat of pickups trucks with rear bench seats did not have to sit in the front seat, because there were seats available in the back seat.  Only two percent of the children had to be in the front seat because there was no space available in the back seat.  

The surveyors also asked drivers, “Do you ever put your child in the center or back seat?” if there was a child in the right front seat when other seats were available.  Eighty-one percent of the drivers said they would move the child to another seat and 19 percent said they would not.  Then the surveyor asked the drivers why they would or would not move the child.  Eighty-six percent of the drivers who would move the child would move them if they had more passengers.  Only seven percent of the drivers would move the child for safety reasons but they were in a hurry and did not have time to put the child in another seating position. 

Table 33 shows the reasons why drivers would not move the child from the right front seat.  In six cases, the driver said the child was big enough to ride in the front.  The children were from 8 to 12 years old.  In 11 cases, the driver said it was too difficult to move the child to another seat.  Most of these children were less than 2 years old and in a child safety seat.  Most drivers who would not move the child to another seat had no reason and felt the child was safe sitting in the right front seat.