[MonkSansFerrari]

Dear Samir,

I don't remember the source but sometime ago I read an American study which stated these facts that I mentioned in my previous post.

It has been observed that in the absence of fastened seat-belt the deployment of air-bag can cause more damage and can even be fatal, therefore, in some cars the seat-belt sensor information is passed onto the air-bag activation device.

The steering grip style needs to be changed for cars with air-bags - it is advised that one should hold the steering at 9 & 3 o'clock position (and not at conventional 10 & 2 o'clock) - to eliminate the risk of injury & even fracture of upper limbs.

Following links have some useful information:

How seat-belts work?

How air-bags work?

How crash-testing works?

[Samir Taheer]

Originally Posted by MonkSansFerrari

Dear Samir,

I don't remember the source but sometime ago I read an American study which stated these facts that I mentioned in my previous post.

It has been observed that in the absence of fastened seat-belt the deployment of air-bag can cause more damage and can even be fatal, therefore, in some cars the seat-belt sensor information is passed onto the air-bag activation device.

The steering grip style needs to be changed for cars with air-bags - it is advised that one should hold the steering at 9 & 3 o'clock position (and not at conventional 10 & 2 o'clock) - to eliminate the risk of injury & even fracture of upper limbs.

Following links have some useful information:

How seat-belts work?

How air-bags work?

How crash-testing works?

Dont know about steering grips but logic (and mine might be wrong) says, that the main reason for the airbag is to stop you from smashing your head against the steering wheel, windscreen, windows, etc. So if your not wearing your seat-belt, its ok to get thrown around the car? I dont belive the seatbelt has anything to do with the activation of the Airbags. I read thru my car manual (A4), and havent found anything.

I do agree however that sitting to close to the steering would hurt alot more than anyone would like.

Also to quote from How stuff works - "To date, statistics show that airbags reduce the risk of dying in a direct frontal crash by about 30 percent."

So its not 10%, but the information was interesting to read. Thanks

[MonkSansFerrari]

Dear Sameer,

Yes, the article that I linked above puts the value as "30 %" .

Even my new Corolla Altis manual does not mention that the air-bags will not deploy if the seat-belts are not fastened.

The logic that I read was that because of hard braking before an impact the body of passengers would move would move forward and be very close to the air-bags and run the risk of severe injury caused by air-bags.

Let us explore more about it and let everyone benefit from the information we gather.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by Samir Taheer

So if your not wearing your seat-belt, its ok to get thrown around the car? I dont belive the seatbelt has anything to do with the activation of the Airbags.

Originally Posted by MonkSansFerrari

Even my new Corolla Altis manual does not mention that the air-bags will not deploy if the seat-belts are not fastened.

Airbags are categorised as being a part of the Supplementary Restraint System. Translated, they must be used ONLY in conjunction with the seatbelts. I do remember reading somewhere that the chance of injury is higher, if airbags activate when the driver / passenger is not wearing seatbelts.

[Samir Taheer]

Thanks GTO.

I've just been reading up about the relation between Airbags and Seatbelts and i havent found anything that says the Airbags are ONLY activated when the seatbelts are worn.

However, like i said before - yes if the airbag goes off and an individual is not wearing their setbelt, yeah its going to hurt. Alot.

[reignofchaos]

Err why would anyone be dumb enough to be on the front seat without a seatbelt. Infact I even make it a point that rear passengers in my car wear seatbelts too.

As GTO correctly pointed out, airbags are a supplementary restraint system. The primary is still a seat belt.

[Guna]

Originally Posted by Samir Taheer

Dont know about steering grips but logic

Grips (9 and 3 position) is simple. Since the airbag is going to pop out of the steering, holding it with widest possible positon helps, so that arms do not come on the way of inflating airbag.
This is what I thought at least.

[Samir Taheer]

@ Gune - Yeah i kinnda guessed that

@ reignofchaos - The argument was not about the seatbelts being, Primary or Secondary saftey equipment, but about the airbags being activated only when the seatbelts were worn. I said that was not true.

[ravibhat]

I feel best bet in 10 lacs range in Bangalore is top end version of Fabia, Cedia, New Honda City. Then comes Sx4, Aveo, Fiesta, Verna.

I too heard Elantra is best Sedan in 10lacs category! I hated its low rear seats.

AirBAG openning without seat belt might kill the person instantly If face position is stuck to airbag thats what I saw DEMO and read article online and in few car manufacturers website worldwide.

Regards,

Ravi.

[benkey2]

i10, fabia, swift
fiesta, any honda,
endeavour, innova
IMO, ford, honda, and skoda are considered safe, whether it hatchback, sedans or SUVs

[Dose]

Moderators: Please delete the previous post. I was unable to edit it within the 20 minutes.

Originally Posted by Samir Taheer

I wouldnt have thought the seat belts needs to be fastened for the Airbags to go off.

I, too, have never heard of airbags refusing to fire unless the seat belt is used.

Originally Posted by joecherian

I know " no car can be called the safest car , but it is the way you drive that determines your safety"
Still, I would like to get an opinion on which is the car with best safety features in a budget of 10 L. (considering both hatchs and sedans,SUVs up to a 10 L)
Does the presence of airbag bump up the safety rating of a car or is a Palio MultiJet without the Airbag more safer than a city with airbag ?

joe, thanks for the question. As a result of this question I decided to stop lurking and become a member of teambhp.

In my humble opinion (imho), I think the Fabia is the safest auto under 10 L.

Regarding presence of an airbag bumping the rating, the answer is: it depends. Why? Because a car can have an airbag but have a bad structure which negates the airbag or vice versa. Yes, an airbag will save your face but what's the use if the roof collapses, fracturing your skull and compressing your spine; the seat dislodges, twisting your body; and the floorpan buckles, crushing your legs.

Thanks to the governments and insurance associations of some developed countries like Europe, U.S., Australia and Japan, and websites like google and wikipedia showing information (info.) on platform sharing, crash test info. is available to anyone with internet access. By looking at all this info., one can make, imho, a better educated decision on which automobile to purchase especially in India where the accident rate is high and where we are getting screwed not only by manufacturers who give us less safety features but also by ignorant consumers who value fuel economy over safety.

When it comes to assessing the potential crash safety of an auto, one has to look at all the NCAP websites from the aforementioned four countries, the U.S. NHTSA's safercar.gov site, and the IIHS site. We should look for a car that does well on all the tests by all the countries, if possible. By assembling and examining all the tests, we put together the pieces to form the big picture regarding the potential crash safety of the auto in question.

I would like to type more but I will do it in a new thread.

[naikpranav]

The airbags shouldn't be going off without the seatbelt being on, first because the Seatbelt is a primary restraint, and the airbag works in tandem with it, secondly, if no one is sitting on that seat, why do you need the airbag to come up ?

[abhinav.gupta88]

All new honda City
Even the fabia is quite safe.
It has a rock solid body and good safety features

[etch]

well its the new city for if you are looking at something within Rs.10L....it has dual airbags which is mandatory now a days and comes with other stuff abs and all plus a unique feature which it has is that the engine and other parts in the bonnet are shifted little inside so that if you have a front impact accident your cars body is only damaged and also the parts wont hit any person inside and outside the car.

[laluks]

for some of the higher end cars, it is a requirement even to deploy the airbag even if seat belts are not buckled. Here they use videography and seat mats to find out the occupants position and category before the airbags are really deployed. Amazing isn't it?