[Thad E Ginathom]

How many cars here have the option to disable the front passenger airbag, in case a child is seated in anything else than a proper child seat appropriate to its age? It is probably in the manual that airbags can be lethal to such a child.

Child on the lap is one of the things that most shocks me about Indian driving. But nowhere near as much as child held in arms, one arm, even, on a two wheeler.

[AyushB]

Such tragic news, same is for kids standing out of sun roof. Want to stop my car in front of people like those and tell them to quit it.
Ever since the birth of my child 6 yrs ago I put my foot down and made sure that my son will never sit in the front seat of the cars till he is old enough to wear a seat belt i.e. 12 years old. Now he himself tells others even if I am not there that he will not sit in front. Feels like such a win as a parent.

[car love]

An airbag is like a controlled bomb explosion. The mechanics of the deployment is very bomb like also with a chemical reaction going off.
It has to be that way for it to deploy in Milli seconds before a passenger hits the internals of the car.
Just as many have pointed out I've seen scores of people that too in high end cars making their kids sit even in the driver's seat holding the steering wheel along with their dad's. As long as attitudes remain unchanged in our country no amount of rules/regulations is going to make any difference.

[TheHelix0202]

Originally Posted by AyushB

Such tragic news, same is for kids standing out of sun roof. Want to stop my car in front of people like those and tell them to quit it.

Not your battle to fight.

I once advised a parent at a traffic signal about the same. He wearily shook his head and went, ‘What can I do? She wants to’

I shook my head for a different reason and replied, ‘Well, it’s for your own child’s safety!’

You can’t educate the unwilling.

[GeeTee TSI]

Very relatable thread which leads to annoyance at some people's indifference.

I had gifted a child seat to a close family when the child could take it, but sadly the parent(s) didn't and worse the grandparents accused it of suffocating the child (never been used even once). Another example within the family is that of a young couple promptly using a child seat in the Middle East but not when visiting India, despite having no challenge of affordability or space (in the car).

Then you have some employers ensuring a child seat in the allocated cab if a child is travelling.

All this rant comes from a someone who has stood between the seats of the car as a child (and rues the lack of progress)

[Swaminathan]

Originally Posted by AyushB

Such tragic news, same is for kids standing out of sun roof. Want to stop my car in front of people like those and tell them to quit it.

Its a pity that parents allow their children to get exposed outside of the sunroof. Apparently, there is no law regulating the use in Europe (not that I know of atleast ) but this is common sense for anyone who can relate exposing a person outside of a moving car is equivalent/worse than someone riding a bike at that speed without a helmet. It is much worse when the child can get ejected out (many accidents globally reported) when seat belts not worn. If open sunroof with no belt can cause ejection, can't think of someone poking out their head )

However, I see that it is not legal either - but not sure if all Cops are aware of this..
https://www.newindianexpress.com/ker...e-2605953.html

[V.Narayan]

Reminds me of an incident from 1998. An old post of mine on it below. Says it all - child dies while savings its mother!!! We Indians will take a very long time to cure ourselves of these habits. No point berating others or sounding virtuous. A lot of this is out of ignorance and a sense of '...but this won't happen to me...'. Till the mid-1990s even I travelled with our first born sitting in front in my wife's lap. And those days there were no seat belts in Indian cars.

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Sharing with all BHPIans for our collective benefit - in 1998 one of my employees was travelling in his M800 with wife in the passenger seat and two-year old son in the wife's lap. Somewhere on the Delhi- Meerut road they had a head-on collision. Both adults got injured (no seat belts - this was before seat belt rules came to India I think). But what was tragic was that the 2-year old took the brunt of the impact that saved his mother. The impact killed the child. I cannot express in words the trauma of that poor lady. Just sharing with all as this is a common practice in our country. Request all BHPians to be cautious of this practice.

Excellent thread by Saket77 on airbags -
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techni...need-know.html

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

How many cars here have the option to disable the front passenger airbag, in case a child is seated in anything else than a proper child seat appropriate to its age? It is probably in the manual that airbags can be lethal to such a child.

Child on the lap is one of the things that most shocks me about Indian driving. But nowhere near as much as child held in arms, one arm, even, on a two wheeler.

I don’t know about India, but here every single car has the option to disable the passenger airbag. It is mandatory and has been for many years.

It is supposed to be used for a child in a child seat in the front passenger seat. Specifically for those child seat where the child faces rearward. Not for just a child sitting in the passenger seat.

Children under 1.35 m are not allowed (EU law) to sit in the front. Period! Unless they are sitting in a rear facing child seat and the airbag is disabled.

Things have changed over the years. When I grew up, for our family outings and holiday are parents would stick my three sisters in the rear seats and I would sit in my mum’s lap. No seatbelts, no airbags. They simply did not exist! And both my parents chain smoking of course!

Jeroen

[vinu_h]

In the initial days it was tough to get my kid to sit in his very own baby seat. His training started off with 5 min drives, then 30, 60 & so on. Occasionally we would put him in the baby seat at home while he's asleep so that he realizes it is a safe space. Fortunately today, he prefers only the baby seat.

Kids have a LOT of energy in them and need to spend. A break every 60 mins is highly recommended. On the highways, we usually stop at Shell fuel bunks. Their cafes are air conditioned, serve decent beverages and are ideal for kids to run around.

Edit - We visited England, Scotland & Australia recently. While Uber has an option to call taxis with baby seats, the drivers did not insist on using them.

[ashkamath]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

I don’t know about India, but here every single car has the option to disable the passenger airbag. It is mandatory and has been for many years.

It is supposed to be used for a child in a child seat in the front passenger seat. Specifically for those child seat where the child faces rearward. Not for just a child sitting in the passenger seat.

Children under 1.35 m are not allowed (EU law) to sit in the front. Period! Unless they are sitting in a rear facing child seat and the airbag is disabled.

Well, the newer Indian cars have the option to disable the front passenger side airbag. There's a button that one can press to disable the deployment of the passenger airbag. However I have never heard or seen it used judiciously for the purpose it's meant to be used for.

Regarding children sitting in the front seat, I don't know if there's any law in India prohibiting them sitting there.

The airbags are a recent phenomenon. It's only in 2019, that Govt of India made it mandatory for driver side airbag. The dual front seat airbags became mandatory only in 2022, that's just 2 years ago.

There's a lack of education, knowledge and understanding of the airbags in India. I believe it will take time for the Indian car owner to fully understand the gravity of the situation in this regard and adapt to these safety features.

Ashok

[ron178]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

How many cars here have the option to disable the front passenger airbag, in case a child is seated in anything else than a proper child seat appropriate to its age?

I believe the switch is for any time a rearward-facing child seat is placed on the front seat, and not necessarily for when a child is not in an appropriate child seat.

An airbag deploying in front of a rearward-facing child seat could drive the child into the backrest, as the UN94 pictogram on the sunvisor shows.

[KSTejaswi]

Thanks to Team-BHP and my circle of friends, I was made aware of child seats well before my first child was born.

When my first child was born, the difficulty of bringing her home from the hospital in the child seat had nothing to do with her - it was tough dealing with all the well-meaning relatives who had never heard of such a concept and thought me to be mad (I am ofcourse mad , but not in this particular case)

I put my foot down, my wife and parents supported me, and that's how she came home in a car seat. She sits in her seat regardless of where we go, and her seat is always in the second row, fixed firmly using the 3-point seat belt.

When my second daughter came along a year ago, no convincing was required. A new seat was purchased, fixed and my daughter secured carefully in that. Wifey is always next to the kids, because kids need to be engaged and one can show scenery only for some amount of time before they lose interest.

My younger brother's son also came home the same way, my gift to them was the child seat and offering my services as driver.

Just yesterday, we had all three kids in the XUV700, with my elder one in the last row and they all had a nice time together, especially with sunroof's shade open.

Yes, I rarely get to have my wife sitting next to me on long drives. Yes, I've been mistaken for a driver at some restaurants/hotels. Yes, we have to stop more often because kids don't like sitting buckled into a small seat for too long. Yes, I've been given dirty looks by some, because I refused to "adjust" my kids for short drives.

It is of paramount importance to me that I do everything in my power to keep my kids safe - it is my basic duty as a father. And so I shall. It really is as simple as that.

I've tried explaining to my friends that they are no longer ignorant - they've seen me use the child seat, they saw how my elder one escaped unscathed despite my car getting involved in a major shunt. So I treat their reluctance to use the seat as arrogance/over-confidence/carelessness. But, their kids are ultimately their responsibility, and there's only so much I can say/do without straining the relationship.