Air bags are proven, effective safety devices when used correctly in combination with seat belts. Since their introduction in the late 1980’s through June 1998, air bags have saved the lives of more than 3,000 people. They are also effective in preventing life-threatening and debilitating head and chest injuries.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has found that 75 of every 100 people who would have suffered a serious head injury, and 66 out of 100 people who would have suffered chest injuries in a crash, were spared that fate because they wore seat belts and had air bags.

– National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

Terri, eight months pregnant, was driving to work one misty morning when a tractor trailer jackknifed and slid across four lanes of traffic. The air bag in Terri’s four-wheel drive vehicle deployed as she hit the truck. She was hit by another vehicle on the passenger side, pushing the hood of her car farther under the tractor trailer, compressing the dashboard, and crushing her legs.

Terri suffered no head or neck injuries, but did sustain a broken left leg and right ankle. Terri credits her air bag for saving two lives: her own and that of her son.

“I braced for impact, closed my eyes and prayed.”

Kathleen deliberately bought a car with air bags, “just in case.” She now believes that her precautionary decision saved her life.

Kathleen was driving her two-door sports car at about 55 mph when another car swerved into her lane. Immediately upon impact, her seat belt held her back to the seat and the air bag deployed. Kathleen cried for joy when she realized that her small car had sustained a head-on collision and she was alive to tell about it. In the emergency room, Kathleen learned that the other driver had died at the crash scene; he was not wearing a seat belt nor did he have an air bag.

Yvonne was on her way to work one foggy morning in her luxury sedan when a four-wheel drive vehicle approaching from a side road ran a stop sign and hit the driver’s side of Yvonne’s car. The impact pushed Yvonne’s car into a hill on the side of the road. She felt her air bag deploy as her car flipped against the hill and remembers feeling snug and protected by the air bag. Yvonne had to be removed from her car by the “jaws of life.” She suffered facial lacerations from broken glass, some broken teeth, and her eyes were swollen shut. She later felt some muscle soreness from where the seat belt had tightened to hold her in place.

As a shorter woman (5’1”), Yvonne has always made it a habit to adjust her seating position and steering wheel so she does not sit too close to the air bag. She is a firm believer in the benefits of air bags. “The injuries I received were definitely outweighed by the reality that if it were not for that ‘air bag hug,’ I would not be here today.”

Bob didn’t expect to actually buy a new car when he and his wife went to a dealership in response to a promotional gimmick. A week later, however, Bob was grateful that his new sedan was equipped with air bags. At a busy intersection only a few blocks from his house, Bob was waiting to make a left turn when he was rear-ended, pushing his car into the lane of on-coming traffic. Bob’s car was hit head-on by a vehicle traveling about 40 miles per hour (mph).

Bob remembers feeling both impacts clearly, but the first thing he remembers after the crash was seeing “smoke” in the car from the air bag’s packing powder. He was flat on his back because the impact of the crash had broken the back of the driver’s seat. He lifted himself up slightly to activate the power windows to let out the packing powder. Even though he felt he could get out and walk, emergency medical services personnel took Bob to the hospital where he was treated for five fractured ribs, whiplash, and a mild abrasion on his leg. Bob credits the air bag for his lack of severe injuries. “Without the air bag, I would be dead or at least severely maimed and incapacitated.”

Stephanie tried to shout at her husband to warn him that the other car was about to hit them as they entered the intersection. Before she could get the words out, they had been hit and both the driver and passenger air bags inflated. Their 4-door sedan was totaled, but no one in the car, including their 2- and 4-year-old daughters who were in child passenger safety seats in the back seat, suffered serious injuries.

Stephanie and her husband were both wearing seat belts. They sustained some bruises and sore muscles. Judging from the condition of the car, Stephanie was surprised that no one was killed or needed to be hospitalized. Stephanie realizes that this is due to the proper use of safety belts and air bags in the front seats and because her children were riding properly restrained in the back seat in the appropriate child safety seats.

You may have read or heard stories about injuries caused by air bags. Air bags can cause injuries or even death when people are positioned too close to the air bag at the time of deployment. Anyone who can sit with at least 10 inches from the center of their breastbone to where the air bag is stored can realize the full benefit of their air bag. In fact, only 4 groups of people are at high risk from an air bag: infants in rear facing child safety seats in the front seat; unrestrained children ages 12 and under in the front seat; drivers or passengers with unusual medical or physical conditions; and drivers who cannot get back 10 inches from the air bag.

The vast majority of people can avoid being too close and can minimize the risk of serious air bag injury by making simple changes in behavior. Shorter drivers can adjust their seating position. Front seat adult passengers can sit a safe distance from their air bags. Infants and children 12 years old and younger should sit in the back seat. Everyone should buckle up.

For more information on air bags and to view footage of crash tests, visit the NHTSA web site (http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov). Click on the icon “AIR BAGS - Information about air bags.” You can also call the NHTSA Auto Safety Hotline at 1-888-DASH-2-DOT.

If you or someone you know has been saved by an air bag, please contact Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety at 1-800-659-BAGS.