Is AirBag a must have given the following ?

[condor]

normally_crazy :the only security / safety system that works in this country is the picture / idol on the dash board.
BaCkSeAtDrIVeR : !!!

@BSD, Are you Serious ?

[TrueDreamer]

I think that is the present situation. I even saw sometimes placing the 2 or 3 year old toddlers on the dashboard playing with those hanging dolls. Otherwise these kids step on the space between two front seats and do the back seat driving. Unless RTA provide theory lessons with easy to remember presentations and short films on traffic awareness, this scenario doesn't change. For these kind of people, they should be seated for these three hour classes rather than leaving them by taking bribes or fines. And again i have gone

In my view Airbags are a must in every vehicle. Manufacturers should focus on safety features than cost cutting and this should be included even in vehicles like Nano and M800 even though this would add another 25~30K extra.

[supercars]

I advise people not to switch off Airbag as it may not come back on and you may have to head to a Service Station.

An Airbag costs around a lakh.

I think we should pay more attention to our driving rather than totally depending on active and passive safety systems.

[BaCkSeAtDrIVeR]

Originally Posted by condor

@BSD, Are you Serious ?

Definitely yes. Just consider this scene I saw the other day.

This is a Y junction, I am coming from the bottom of the Y, There is a bus ahead of me, and a Tavera is coming from (my) right hand side and is taking the sort of U turn (towards his right hand side) to enter the left of the Y. The Tavera has completed the turn, and its front left wheel is almost on the white line dividing the two lanes on my side. I can see a helmet on the far side of the Tavera - means that he cannot go further right. (I am pretty close to the median, the bus is about 3 feet from the median, and my side of the road is going to the left). There afre two other two wheelers on the tavera's left side. (I would have panicked with just that much traffic around me - I am suffocated because I need to do a tight right turn, and there is this go***n two wheeler on my right, and if I hold steady to miss him, I have the other 1d0ts on my left, if I still manage these three, I still need to complete the turn).

The bus, instead of slowing down and letting the tavera to complete the turn just accelerates, swerves to the left, and Tavera manages to stop - bus misses the left corner ot the tavera by just inches.

I do not have any idols and images on my car - and for some reason, still have not gathered courage to drive around "normally". Probably I need safety device.

[kochicar]

How safe is it for a 3- 7 year old child stand in the back row holding both the front seats and looking forward between them in a car?

I never allow my kids in the front seat. So they take the option i mentioned above. I am puzzled though they cannot pass through the gap!!

Don't want to start a thread, hence posting it here.

[phamilyman]

kochicar,

See some western safety videos. I was with an oil and gas major, and completely mirror their concerns about airbags/seat belts. The scenario you mention, if involved in a collision, typically ends in the rear seat person ending up on the bonnet, or if unlucky, in a crumpled heap in the front seats' lap.

DONT do it. You love your kids right?

/am myself hopelessly given up trying to educate my own family/relatives. All I do is belt up in the rear seat and sulk.

[condor]

kochicar : How safe is it for a 3-7 year old child stand in the back row holding both the front seats and looking forward between them in a car?

@Kochicar, the question could have been "Is it safe atall ?".

Good to hear that you dont let your kids into the front row. But that gap is not safe. They may not be able to pass through under normal circumstances, but in case of an emergency, sudden stop, no one -let alone the kids- will have the reaction time to be able to hold on to something to avoid being thrown to the front. Even I avoid that center seat.

If they want to have that center position, then it should be "seated, wearing seat belt".

[cjrao]

Originally Posted by condor

... the only security / safety system that works in this country is the picture / idol on the dash board.

Couldn't control my laugh.

But seriously on a second thought, most of us (in India) driving on the highway do exactly that (leave it god).

Regards,
cjrao.

[cartech]

I think a year ago there was an accident in Lokhandwala in Andheri(E) involving at least 3 cars. A tempo crashed into Swift Zxi at about 50-60kmph at 2.00 AM. A Palio following also crashed into these 2 cars. Swift Airbags inflated and saved two people in front. Two people sitting behind AND NOT WEARING seat-belts died!. Don't remember what happened to Palio and Tempo people.

[snaronikar]

Originally Posted by cjrao

Couldn't control my laugh.

But seriously on a second thought, most of us (in India) driving on the highway do exactly that (leave it god).

Regards,
cjrao.

But we need to try our best and the rest leave it to god right. We need to drive carefully and not like crazy people.

[Bullfrog]

Maybe a bit OT on this thread but isn't safety for one's own/family sake ?

Same kind of arguments we keep hearing day in and day out, about so many people not wearing seat belt/helmet, how dangerous it is on a 2 wheeler for a family of four etc etc...Taking one's own safety precautions is a task that people should seriously give consideration, and to do this you should not set irresponsible people on road who don't follow any safety norms as baseline.

Morons were always there and I can see them perpetuate far into the visible future. Safety norms are exactly to protect yourself against them.

If you can afford the feature, buy it would be my suggestion.

[Bomi]

"Since there is no option for the driver to switch off a passenger airbag (or I may not be aware off this exactly)"

cjrao.[/quote]

The Octavia has the option of switching off the passenger side airbag through a switch in the glove compartment. An indicator lights up on the dashboard if the airbag is de-activated. Don't know about other cars airbags.

[cjrao]

Originally Posted by condor

Seat belts = restraint system. To prevent passenger from being thrown to the front in the event of a sudden stop. Impact stop not required for seat-belt to come into action.

How will a crumple zone do this function ?

Airbag is designed to take most of the impact in front passengers cabin (frontal airbags). Crumple Zone is designed to pass lesser impact and cause minimal damage to the passenger cabin. So if you see they are indirectly related.

Originally Posted by Bomi

The Octavia has the option of switching off the passenger side airbag through a switch in the glove compartment. An indicator lights up on the dashboard if the airbag is de-activated. Don't know about other cars airbags.

Good to know that. Thanks Bomi.


Regards
cjrao.

[Thad E Ginathom]

There is least one occasion on which a passenger airbag must be turned off; It is to do with children in a certain kind of childseat. I do not remember the details, but they will be in the car manual.

No person, of any age, is safe in a car unless they are properly secured by seat belts, or properly fitted and adjusted child seats. Back seat is not safer. Unsecured rear passengers can kill the front seat occupants.

Can people not get to grips with this simple fact? ---

when your car is stopped suddenly by something solid, everything loose in it continues to move at the car's collision speed.

I was told by an ex-policeman once, what an unpleasant job it is removing dead people who have themselves entangled in the front seats.

[itwasntme]

To add to Thad's post, rear-facing child seats must NEVER be fixed in the front seat as the airbag deployment will cause severe injuries and/or fatal whiplash to the infant/child. If at all required, the passenger side airbag must be manually turned off where possible.

In fact, many cars now come with a special weight sensor which keeps the airbag off unless a heavy enough object is strapped into the front passenger seat. Some others have a special LATCH which has a corresponding buckle on the infant seat which deactivates the airbag.

The above 2 systems have dual advantages. First, the kid lives and secondly, you don't waste a useless passenger side airbag deplyment!

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

There is at least one occasion on which a passenger airbag must be turned off; It is to do with children in a certain kind of childseat. I do not remember the details, but they will be in the car manual.

No person, of any age, is safe in a car unless they are properly secured by seat belts, or properly fitted and adjusted child seats. Back seat is not safer. Unsecured rear passengers can kill the front seat occupants.

Can people not get to grips with this simple fact? ---

when your car is stopped suddenly by something solid, everything loose in it continues to move at the car's collision speed.

I was told by an ex-policeman once, what an unpleasant job it is removing dead people who have themselves entangled in the front seats.