Part one of a series about airbags and airbag safety

When most of us think of air bags, it isn’t with a great deal of curiousity. We know the basics of what they are, and what they do, and they’re just another part of modern life.

There are many facts that the average motorist doesn’t know about air bags and air bag safety that may change the way we drive, or even improve our chances of surviving a potentially fatal accident.

Over the next few articles, we’ll be discussing some of that information. These facts are gathered from a presentation by the National Highway Safety Administration, where you can get more facts about airbag safety.

15 Facts About Airbags, Part One

• All new passenger cars, light trucks and vans are equipped with frontal air bags for both the driver and the front-seat passenger.
• Airbags are meant as supplemental restraint systems – they work in conjunction with seat belts, so you should have your seat belts on at all times.
• Some vehicles that don’t have rear seats come with an on/off button for air bags.
• T he air bag system consists of three basic parts-an air bag module, crash sensors and a diagnostic unit.
• At full inflation, the driver side air bag is about the size of a large beach ball, but the passenger side air bag may be quite a bit larger, to compensate for the additional space between the dashboard and the person being restrained.

See Also

• Auto Road Service
  Full featured auto road service and emergency roadside assistance.