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Research papers on airbags
How airbags work: benefits, dangers and risks
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The Benefits and Risks of Airbags In 1966, President Johnson signed the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety act. This act required the government to come up with new safety standards for motor vehicles. Four years or so later, in the 1970s, General Motors and Ford placed new airbags in small fleet cars (Moore). The concept of this new device was to totally inflate stopping the rapid forward motion of a person not wearing a seat belt before they would hit the dashboard or be thrown from a car during a crash. The airbags soon proved to be helpful, but in some cases they were still very dangerous (The Truth). Airbags, to me, are an important part of car safety; they saved my relatives lives. But, complications still arise from the force of an airbag deploying when a car is hit at a low speed. And the fact that some motor companies only test airbags on large dummies resembling males is upsetting because not everyone is the same size. The companies also waited five months before acknowledging that there were safety problems with the airbags. Even if airbags do save lives, there are still some injuries and even some fatalities linked to an exploding airbag. Around 51 people have been killed from an airbag since 1990 and 30 of then have been children. Contrary to popular belief, the airbag is not a cushioning pillow that gently breaks your fall during a car crash. Designed to propel out at speeds of up to 200 mph the air bag is designed to stop and violent thrashing forward of a body during a collision (Doherty). The sensors located in the front of a car determine weather the airbag is needed in cars with in milliseconds of the crash occurring. However these sensors are often too sensitive and this causes and airbag to so... ... middle of paper ... ...eople would be lucky if they got to live to analyze their mistakes. This information will also allow people to know what is coming up in the world of airbags and what they can get for their cars to keep them safer. Even thought airbags are there to save lives, there is still a potential danger that comes with them. If the proper steps are taken and everything possible is done to keep a person in the correct area for a deploying airbag, they could save a life. Bibliography: Doherty, Brian. “Airbags and Gasbags.” Reason. March 1997. Sec. Editorials. Moore, Victor. “Airbag Chronology” Dec. 17. ’01. Motorvista website. http://www.motorvista.com/airhist.htm “Safety-Airbags.” Times Union. 2001. Sec: Safety. www.timesunion.webpoint.com/newcars/airbags.htm “The Truth.” 2000. Safety Fourm. Safety About airbags. http://www.safetyfourn.com/aribags/
However, people tend to use this technology to engage in more dangerous behaviors, ignoring the always-present risks. The ABS system is used by car, and it makes the brake more reliable and decrease the risk of accidents. However, “the drivers [use] the additional element of safety to enable them to drive faster and more recklessly without increasing their risk of getting into an accident” (p289). People like to use the technology in a different way, so an unexpected result always comes after. They use the technical measurement as an excuse, make it be responsible for their naive behaviors. “Why are more pedestrians killed crossing the street at marked crosswalks than at unmarked crosswalks? Because they compensate for the ‘safe’ environment of a marked crossing by being less vigilant about oncoming traffic” (p289). It is kind of a self-comforting; people create a safe environment to palsy themselves. Most of them immerse in this “safe” environment, and do not realize their dangerous behavior because they subjectively think the technology is more advanced than before, and allows them to engage hazardous behavior with absolute safe. Ironically, the fact is the inverse of what they think. As an economist says, “they ‘consumed’ the risk reduction, they didn’t save it.” (p289) As the result of doing more dangerous things, tragedy often happens. On the other hand, people should not be surprised if it
In the late 1920’s, school buses and larger industrial vehicles became a popular source of transportation that started from Ford dealership owner, A.L. Luce. Luce had plans to extend the school bus frame (from a Model T) to accompany more students per one bus. As school buses and city buses became more common throughout America’s cities for daily transportation, safety regulations and precautions were put in place. Safety features, including flashing caution lights, visors outside of the vehicle, and motorized stop signs and stop arms were all installed within the next 80 years to make the journey to and from school safer. Although many of these precautions were taken, many citizens believe that not enough action was taken to promote safety on school buses. Because a variety of school bus companies do not have a stance on whether seatbelts should be installed or not, the safety concerns mainly impact parents and school leaders. A good solution for many of those concerned would be the installation of seatbelts on every school bus within the United States, but the reality of seatbelts being on buses is quite the opposite of what people believe. Seatbelts are not the justification to these safety issues concerning school corporations and parents nationwide, as the seatbelts are a costly and dangerous factor.
In 1974 Congress passed school bus safety legislation, three years before the Carrollton school bus was built. Manufactures, like Ford Motor Company, managed to delay the implementation of automotive safety standards, including those relating to school-bus safety. In 1971, President of Ford Motor at the time, Lee Iacocca, was known to have lobbied President Richard Nixon to put off costly new rules for cars. He was quoted as saying, “Safety has really killed all of our business. He could have also been lobbying for the Ford Pinto, which was surrounded by much controversy due to the placement of its gas tank.
The fact that seat belts have been implemented into automotive vehicles since 1968 (Stowell & Bryant, 1978) makes it a very frustrating challenge for public health officials to get Americans to actually use the seat belts that are "virtually in every vehicle on the road" (Clayton et al., 2006). Due to the avoidance of individuals using seat belts, "most automobile industry attempts to prompt seat belt use has relied on negative reinforcements" (Clayton et al., 2006). These negative reinforcements include bells, light, loud noises, etc., in order to prompt the driver and other individuals in the vehicle to fasten their seat belts. Although they are seen as "negative", the reason behind these methods are for public health reasons alone.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the average number of children who die in bus crashes is five. Seatbelts would help to decrease
Current seat belt law originated from federal legislation in the 1960s that made it mandatory for all automobile manufacturers to include seat belts in their vehicles as a standard feature. Originally, the purpose of a seat belt was not to protect the occupants in the case of a crash, but rather to physically keep them in the vehicle, as driving was bumpy business.
"The Automobile." American Decades. Ed. Judith S. Baughman, et al. Vol. 2: 1910-1919. Detroit: Gale, 2001. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 5 Mar. 2014.
This padding system is more reliable than the an airbag system because an airbag system requires a certain threshold to be surpassed prior to being deployed (Breed, 1991). This padding, is assembled and ready prevent the patient as soon as the impact from another vehicle occurs. Though this device is primarily for the lateral portions of the car interior, the cushion device still impedes some of the force on the driver or passenger during a “T-bone” type of accidents that frequently occur on
“Seat belts can save a life and improve a motorist’s chances of surviving a crash by 60 percent. A motorist’s chances
After thousands of accidents where the occupants did not wear their seatbelts, the Supreme Court decided to pass some laws. “In 1972, the agency requires dull passive restraints for front seat occupants” (Supreme Court). The agency that the Supreme Court is referring to is the Department of Transportation. This law is a staple in automobile safety and sets a level of precedent for future laws. After this law was passed, the number of fatalities from traffic incidents relating to seat belts usage had dropped.
U.S. Department of Transportation National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (1999). Air Bags and On-Off Switches. Retrieved on September 25, 2001 from the World Wide Web: http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/airbags/brochure.com
Using seat belt when driving can help us to prevent death when an accident occurs.
The journey from that idea and the airbags that we have now has been very long. Today, airbags are a necessary in every car and are designed to act as an extra safety device aside of seat belts. But a lot of people are looking quite sceptical at the air bag safety, because there was a lot of accidents where the airbag didn’t react or it did react, but it didn’t help but killed the driver or the passenger. Since 1991 there was 238 counted just because of air
This report is based upon extensive library and internet research as well as an interview with Zaman Qamar, performance engineer at General Motors. He is one of the team members for crash and safety department which deals with accidental issues during severe crash.
We have all heard the excuses before, “do I have to wear it? It isn’t like it’s going to protect me,” “it’s uncomfortable, I’m only going around the corner,” or “I’d rather be thrown out of the vehicle than to be stuck in a seat belt.” No matter how good of a driver you are, or you think you might be, there are always situations that are beyond your control. Such as, bad weather, drunk drivers, and road conditions. Sometimes, seat belts can be a life or death in an automobile accident. Not only is wearing your seat belt every time you get in a vehicle, but it is required by law in 49 states, with the exception of New Hampshire. Although seat belts are known to lock up and wrinkle your clothes, I believe that wearing your seat belt is beneficial because every fourteen seconds someone is injured in a traffic crash. Seat belts are not only known for holding you in place during a collision, but more importantly the are known to save the lives of the occupants in the vehicle.