Car Shop Guide

However effective seatbelts are, your body still folds forwards on impact, which brings the driver’s head and chest down on the wheel while the passengers’ heads either hit the fascia or the backs of the front seats. In addition, limbs are thrown around, glass may come flying out of the side windows and, in side-impacts and roll-overs, your head can be smashed sideways and doors can be crushed against occupants. This is where airbags come in.
These are devices hidden behind the car’s interior trim which, when triggered by an impact, inflate to cushion and protect. Most systems require at least two sensors to be satisfied there is an impact so the likelihood of them being triggered unnecessarily is low. When they do go off it is with a pop that you’re unlikely to notice in a crash. A full-size driver’s airbag is fully inflated in about half the time it takes to blink so they do their job so quickly most people are unaware they’ve gone off until they see the collapsed bag after the crash. They deflate instantly, so will not get in your way if you still need to steer the car.
In short, you have nothing to fear from airbags – unless you plan to try taking the steering wheel or fascia apart – and the more of them you have, the safer you will be.
Most new cars now have at least a driver’s airbag in the steering wheel and a front passenger airbag in the fascia above the glovebox. If you need to put a child seat on the front passenger seat, make sure the passenger airbag can be disabled.
Other airbags a car may have are side, curtain and knee bags. Side bags protect against side impacts and are placed in the sides of the seats, usually only the front ones. Curtain airbags drop down over the side windows to protect occupants’ heads from hitting the glass or pillars and some are full length while others only protect the front passengers. Knee airbags are still fairly rare and are located in the steering column to protect the driver’s knees. A few luxury cars also have airbags in the backs of the front seats to protect back seat passengers.