Abrupt end
Well, that was fun while it lasted. Today my "new" RV was totaled in a head-on collision with a woman who had lost control of her car and spun into my lane. She had been forced out of her lane by a ...
Forum Discussion
pickjare wrote:
I am sorry for anyone who is killed or injured in an accident that is the fault of an airbag. But I respectfully want to ask you to reconsider what airbags do for occupants. Though their are problems with them, when everything works correctly they can save your life! That is, when seat belt fastened correctly, head rest positioned correctly, and automobile has nothing that will cause airbags to malfunction. Right now many modern vehicles have multiple airbag related recalls from various manufacturers...those must be done too. Many people add on accessories such as seat covers that stop correct deployment, different bumpers that can cause impact sensors to read incorrectly, etc. I read your post and am not arguing anything, but I advise anyone who operates a vehicle with airbags to NOT disable them.
I appreciate your concern but I've personally seen too many needless injuries and at least one death from air bombs. The National Motorist Association shares my opinion and has done a great deal of research in this area.
Let's go back and examine my wreck in more detail. I had two different functions to perform about a second apart. First I had to try and steer away from the oncoming car. That attempt failed. That impact would have detonated the air bomb, had the vehicle been equipped with one. During detonation, the bag would have blown my hands off the wheel, making the second half impossible to accomplish.
The second half was, seeing that I was going down an embankment (more like 25 ft than the 6 I initially reported because the nose was buried up in the dirt at the bottom and the rear was still below road grade), I had to steer the rig into the direction we were headed to remove any lean and to make sure it didn't tip over. That effort was successful.
IF there had been an air bomb, it would have expended itself on the collision and been unavailable for the impact 20-something feet off the roadway. I would have been stunned from the explosion and my hands would have been off the wheel. I would have been at the mercy of the events unfolding.
One final item of note and then I really am going to shut up about air bombs. This is for those of you who believe in air bombs based on the NTHSA's statistics.
The National Driver's Association (a group for driving enthusiasts) smelled something rotten in the NTHSA's air bomb claims. So they investigated. Filed a few FOIA claims. Discovered what was really going on.
On the Uniform Traffic Incident Report form, there is a block for each vehicle titled "did air bag deploy". If the traffic officer checks that block, the NTHSA counts that as a life saved. This is how they cook the numbers to make themselves look so good.
That's all, folks
John
