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Air Bags
AIR BAGS AND CHILDREN DON'T MIX
This year, over 20 million American vehicles will have
passenger side air bags, a safety feature soon to become standard
on all new cars. Designed to inflate rapidly, the air bags
prevent passengers from hitting the windshield or dashboard in a
collision. Air bags - a great safety feature on vehicles - have
deployed in more than 850,000 and reduced driver deaths in
frontal crashes by 30 percent nationally. Although air bags were
designed to save lives, they can be a very serious risk to
children. Although 500 drivers lives were saved by air bags in
1995, 15 children died of air bag-related injuries during the
same period. In eleven of the crashes, the children were not
wearing safety belts or were not wearing them properly. In other
crashes, the force of the passenger side air bag's deployment
killed four infants riding in rear-facing car seats.
Children are at increased risk for air bag-related injuries
because of their size. The vehicle seat belts, when worn, do not
fit most children correctly. As a result, children often place
the shoulder belt behind them and perch on the edge of the
vehicle seat. This positioning, combined with the child's
short stature, places the child's face and neck directly in
the path and full velocity of the deploying air bag. This turns a
minor 10-mile-per-hour crash into a 140 -mile per hour head
impact with the passenger-side air bag. The risk of death in a
car crash with a passenger side air bag is extremely high for
unrestrained children and for infants in rear-facing child
seats.
Because of the above information, the American Academy of
Pediatrics (AAP) recommends the following:
For Infants:
• The safest place for infants to
ride is in the back seat of the vehicle. In a collision, the
rigid seat supports the baby's back, neck and head.
• Never put a baby in the front seat of a vehicle equipped with a
passenger-side air bag (see owners' manual). An infant
weighing under 20 lbs. or younger than one year ,must always ride
in a rear-facing child safety seat in the back seat of the
vehicle.
For Children over 20 pounds:
• To greatly improve a child's chances of surviving a
crash and avoiding serious injury, place them in the rear seat,
properly restrained. Children riding in the front seat are at
risk if they are improperly restrained, out of position or too
small for the safety belt to fit correctly. In a crash, little
ones can easily slide forward on the seat, and the inflating air
bag can hit them in the head or neck. Whether the vehicle has an
air bag or not, children are up to 29 percent safer riding in the
back seat, as compared to the front seat.
• In an emergency
and the child must ride in the front seat, make sure he or she is
correctly restrained and then move the vehicle seat completely
back, away from the air bag.
• For children over 40 pounds
but too small to wear a lap and shoulder belt properly, use a car
booster seat to obtain correct positioning of the lap and
shoulder belt The lap belt must fit snugly across the child's
upper thighs (not abdomen). The shoulder belt should cross the
youngster's shoulder and chest.
• Never place a shoulder
belt under the child's arm, belt two children together or
hold a child in someone's arms while traveling.
•Parents should set a good example by always using both lap and
shoulder belts. |
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