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Why do you recommend that young children travel in the front seat of the car?
Your response to the letter 'Inflated opinion' (13.8.13) states that an airbag should only be turned off when a rear facing baby cradle is strapped into the passenger seat. The Government website CDC (Centre for Disease Control and Prevention) states in its section on Passenger Safety: “All children younger than 13 years should ride in the back seat. Airbags can kill young children riding in the front seat. Never place a rear-facing car seat in the front seat or in front of an air bag.”
I understand there have been over a hundred deaths of children in recent years due to the force at which an airbag deploys. I personally know a 10-year-old girl who was tragically killed due to the force of the airbag deployment, causing irreparable head and neck injuries, despite the low speed of the cars involved in the accident. Please make your readers aware that until a child is 13 they should be in the back seat ideally, or if they have to be in the front seat the airbag should be turned off.
I understand there have been over a hundred deaths of children in recent years due to the force at which an airbag deploys. I personally know a 10-year-old girl who was tragically killed due to the force of the airbag deployment, causing irreparable head and neck injuries, despite the low speed of the cars involved in the accident. Please make your readers aware that until a child is 13 they should be in the back seat ideally, or if they have to be in the front seat the airbag should be turned off.
Asked on 2 November 2013 by DL, Exeter
Answered by
Honest John
I stick with my advice because I think it is superior to the advice you have read cooked up by either by some civil servant or someone involved in the child seat business. If an airbag can kill a properly restrained child in the front seat of a car then it can also kill an adult. So what is the point of fitting passenger airbags at all? The point is to save lives, not to kill people whether they are adults or children. Of course it's safer for children to ride in the back. It's safer for anyone to ride in the back because that puts more car in front of them in the case of a frontal collision. It's also safer to travel in the centre rear seat because that puts more car between the occupant and any side impact.
To show how ridiculous the CDC advice is, it does not even mention side airbags or curtain airbags or rear airbags. There are commonly as many as 12 airbags in a modern car. All there to save lives, not to kill people. If, as you say, there have been over a hundred deaths of children in recent years, due to the force at which an airbag deploys, where do you get this figure from? Total deaths in cars in 2012 were 875. Total deaths in the year to end June 2013 were 635. Please give me the number of forward facing, restrained child deaths caused by airbags either in 2012 or in the year to end June 2013. Against that needs to be put the number of restrained chidren's lives saved by airbags in the front seats of cars. If figure A exceeds B then I will be forced to retract. If figure B exceeds A then you will. As it is, I simply don't believe the figure you have touted.
To show how ridiculous the CDC advice is, it does not even mention side airbags or curtain airbags or rear airbags. There are commonly as many as 12 airbags in a modern car. All there to save lives, not to kill people. If, as you say, there have been over a hundred deaths of children in recent years, due to the force at which an airbag deploys, where do you get this figure from? Total deaths in cars in 2012 were 875. Total deaths in the year to end June 2013 were 635. Please give me the number of forward facing, restrained child deaths caused by airbags either in 2012 or in the year to end June 2013. Against that needs to be put the number of restrained chidren's lives saved by airbags in the front seats of cars. If figure A exceeds B then I will be forced to retract. If figure B exceeds A then you will. As it is, I simply don't believe the figure you have touted.
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