Newspaper says 1,400 deaths blamed on bad airbags
How much do you trust your car's airbag to protect you? When you get through reading what the Kansas City Star has to say about them, they may no longer seem as trustworthy.The paper cites several horrifying stories about head-on crashes in which the airbags failed to deploy and occupants died. After crunching numbers on thousands of fatal crashes, the paper's staff found a surprising number of deaths that might be blamed on faulty airbags. But the project went further and eliminated any that might be questionable and ended up with what the story calls a "conservative" estimate. If their methodology is correct, at least 1,400 people died from 2001 to 2006 in frontal crashes when their cars' airbags did not inflate at all.
While that number is disturbing, what we find more troubling is the paper's tales of investigations into faulty airbags that seem to drag on forever before a recall is issued, in at least one case, allowing more fatalities. And don't think your car is exempt. The story says all manufacturers have had reports of defective airbags.
These findings should not just scare, but also remind everyone not to count on airbags alone and reinforce the wisdom of buckling up.
Oh, by the way: before commenting that this is nothing but a sensationalistic story to sell papers, read the articles. These guys did tons of research and talked to former and current NHTSA employees, then produced a series of what read like balanced, level-headed journalism.
[Source: The Kansas City Star]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 7)
Tommy 11:14AM (10/22/2007)
this is nothing but a sensationalistic story to sell papers!!!!!
hahah just kidding...i think this is a risk we all are willing to take; airbags save way more lives than they take
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Deb 2:19PM (10/25/2007)
I would rather not have airbags thank you. I had a crash at a 25 mph impact. Not enough to do any serious injury but enough to implode the airbag which broke snapped both of my forearms in half. I now have two steel bars with screws holding the bones together. Five years ago however, when my daughters 18 year old friend clipped a boulder with her front end and clipped a tree her airbag did not implode and she died of a broken neck. My best friend works as an operating room tech. She has told me of numerous accidents where people are seriously or fatally injured due to injuries caused directly by the airbag, not the accident. Crushed sternums, broken jaws, broken eye sockets, etc. etc.. Airbags implode at up to 220 mph. How many of you realize that?
john 5:03PM (10/25/2007)
My 20 year old daughter fell asleep at the wheel 3 weeks ago, and hit a rewood tree. She was traveling at 45mph. The tree stopped her dead, her airbag deployed. She did not have a single scratch. I believe her airbag saved her life. She was driving a new Nissan Xtera, with the new "breakaway" type frame.
The SUV was flat to the windshield.
RealityCheck 5:18PM (10/25/2007)
I like how the article neglected to say how many accidents had occurred from the years of 2001 to 2006, in which this 1,400 failed airbag statistic was taken. That's a rather vital piece of information I would think. I mean, if there were only 2,000 accidents within those six years, I would be very alarmed indeed, as that represents 70% of airbags had failed to deploy in an accident. However, should there have been, say 20,000,000 accidents within the scope of those six years, a far more believable figure but likely not the actual one, that would represent a mere 0.07% failure rate and perhaps within the safety regulations of the U.S. Automotive Standards. Given how we Americans drive, I would hesitate to say that even that quantity of accidents is a conservative estimate. For a newspaper article that's supposed to be delivering an objective, unbiased report, they certainly neglected to state some key facts essential for making a rational, clear-headed decision regarding how to look at your vehicle's airbag.
The reality is this. Things don't always work. You just take every precaution you can in the hopes that that one additional safety system given to you by your car's manufacturer does work, and that even if it doesn't you have other systems to fall back on. That's the beauty of redundency.
AdamVIP 11:15AM (10/22/2007)
I recently totalled a 2000 toyota elica and the airbag did not deploy. I was wearing my seatbelt and no one was injured but it did make me question the actual safety of the vehicle.
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Shadyman 10:26PM (10/22/2007)
Which direction did you hit/get hit from? If it was the front, I'd be wary.
If you got hit in the side, I wouldn't expect them to go off (unless you've got side-impact airbags), since deploying the front airbags in a side or side frontal collision doesn't help any.
AdamVIP 10:18AM (10/23/2007)
I definitly hit her straight on. The front of my car was pretty well destroyed. Personnally I dont like airbags. They scare me. But the fact that it didnt go off was a bit scary too.
beddybeddy83 2:58PM (10/25/2007)
I have had 2 head on crashes in my 1998 chevy prizm and the airbag has never gone off. Both time the auto body shop was surprised that it did not deploy and said it should have.
Cori 5:02PM (10/25/2007)
WOW were they still making Selicas in 2000???
Mr. Oak 11:18AM (10/22/2007)
Newspaper says 1,400 deaths blamed on bad airbags.
Should Read
Newspaper says 1,400 deaths blamed on airbag malfunction.
The first title lead me to believe that Air Bag are still killing people. A very different Airbag issue.
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melanie 6:41PM (10/25/2007)
i agree..the title should be changed!!!
i was in a head on collision in dec 06 and survived thanks to the airbag. yes..i did get a broken arm and a busted up face because of the airbag but what could have happened would have been worse.
AdamVIP 11:18AM (10/22/2007)
I recently totalled a 2000 toyota elica and the airbag did not deploy. I was wearing my seatbelt and no one was injured but it did make me question the actual safety of the vehicle.
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Josiah 11:19AM (10/22/2007)
This sort of reminds me of local news promos ...
"Tonight we report on a safety device in YOUR car could be defective and KILL YOU and your children .... story at 11"
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Sam 11:21AM (10/22/2007)
could you sue if your airbags didn't deploy and your car is totaled?
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beanspants 12:23PM (10/22/2007)
You bet you could. Easy win for your lawyer.
Melisa 3:32PM (10/25/2007)
You can't sue if your car is totalled and your air bag didn't go off. Air bags don't prevent cars from getting totalled. You can sue if you got badly hurt and your airbag didn't go off--whether or not your car got totalled.
NBABC5 8:02PM (10/27/2007)
Yes.
zach 11:24AM (10/22/2007)
There are two separate issues here: Airbags not going off in all situations, and companies not fixing known problems.
For the first issue, I don't think it's reasonable to expect airbag systems to be perfect in every accident occurring under an infinite range of circumstances. I would imagine that the number of lives saved because of airbags makes the 1400 number used by the newspaper seem minuscule. Car safety has improved greatly over the years and it will continue to improve; it's not difficult to find many stories of people walking away from horrific wrecks that would have certainly resulted in fatalities 20 years ago.
As for companies not fixing/acknowledging known safety issues; I think that's the real problem here.
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dmw 11:47AM (10/22/2007)
Maddening. The problem is not that the article is sensational, its nonsense. An airbag does not "cause" an injury if it does not deploy. Yes, a jury could be allowed to say so, if the airbag is legally "defective," but that's not a issue of cause, but rather fault. Two totally different things. (And it's why Thom Yorke was being ironic about his fast german car accident.)
m 11:49AM (10/22/2007)
They could build you a car that was nearly impossible to be injured in, but why should they bother? It would be heavy, ugly, and slow. It wouldn't hold your groceries or other passengers, and it would cost a fortune. They don't build it, because you wouldn't buy it. Exactly how much can a car protect you if you don't drive it?
Safety is one of many considerations when designing a car. All of these considerations are weighed and compromised, including safety. Safety systems and quality control are expensive. Nothing works ALL the time, and getting closer takes money. Everybody wants everything, but nobody wants to pay for it.