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Old 03-22-2011, 02:02 AM   #32 (permalink)
Clev
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Quote:
Originally Posted by johnlvs2run View Post
Let's say the person most likely to be riding in my car is an elderly woman.

I am convinced that the airbags exploding with her in the passenger seat, would result in her death.

So that's a foregone conclusion.

Now, since she would be dead as a result of them, there is no way that they would then save her life.

To me, it would be irresponsible of anyone knowing of this possiblity, to leave the airbags in the car.
Your logic fails at the sentence beginning with "I am convinced." The airbags "exploding" with her in the passenger seat will keep her from either hitting the dashboard/windshield and dying, or at a minimum, straining so badly against the seatbelt so as to sustain major internal injuries. At the very worst, she will suffer superficial burns to the face.

In the 18 years from 1990 to 2007, there have been 13 deaths to adults in the passenger seat from airbags. That's less than one per year. Airbags saved 24,334 lives during that same time period, and not counting idiots who put children in rear-facing child seats in an airbag-enabled seat, caused 132 deaths.

It's irresponsible and, frankly, idiotic, to disable working airbags except in very extreme examples (i.e. the owner and sole driver is 4'10" and is right up against the steering wheel.)
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