October 2006 - Side Airbags Substantially Reduce Death Risk in Cars and SUVs

According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), side airbags that protect people's heads are reducing driver deaths in cars struck on the near (driver) side by an estimated 37 percent. In cars, airbags that protect only the chest and abdomen, but not the head, are reducing deaths by 26 percent. Fatality risk in sport utility vehicles (SUVs) went down 52 percent with head-protecting side airbags and 30 percent with airbags that protect the chest and abdomen, but not the head.

Although federal regulations do not require side airbags in passenger vehicles, more and more manufacturers are installing them. In part, this is the result of a voluntary agreement among automakers, forged in 2003, to improve occupant protection in side impacts with SUVs and pickups — an agreement that essentially will result in all cars, SUVs, and pickups being equipped with side airbags with head protection by the 2010 model year.

About four of every five new car and SUV models already have standard or optional side airbags that include head protection. This is a huge increase since side airbags were introduced in a handful of models in the mid-1990s. Pickup trucks are not matching the pattern of being equipped with side airbags - head-protecting airbags are standard in only one 2006 model pickup and fewer than half of all pickups have side airbags at all, standard or optional.

"Once every passenger vehicle on the road has side airbags that include head protection for front-seat occupants, we can save as many as 2,000 lives per year," says Anne McCartt, IIHS vice president for research.

COPYRIGHT ©2005, ISO Services Properties, Inc.

The information contained in this publication was obtained from sources believed to be reliable. ISO Services Properties, Inc., its companies and employees make no guarantee of results and assume no liability in connection with either the information herein contained or the safety suggestions herein made. Moreover, it cannot be assumed that every acceptable safety procedure is contained herein or that abnormal or unusual circumstances may not warrant or require further or additional procedure.