Driving Tips > Safety Columns
Airbags and children
As with many safety devices, there are some common-sense rules that ensure airbags do their job properly.
The first is this: buckle your seatbelt. Airbags are meant to supplement seatbelts, not replace them, and together these two safety systems have saved a lot of lives and lessened the severity of injuries in serious crashes.
Small children vulnerable
And when you have small children in your car, you have to make sure you don’t unintentionally put the kids in harm’s way.
“Airbags deploy at about 300 kilometres an hour
with a force like a heavyweight’s knockout punch,” says Jeanie Dalman, Occupant Safety Issue Specialist for Manitoba Public Insurance. “That’s
why kids under 12 should be in the back seat and properly restrained by a
seatbelt or in an approved child seat.”
Dalman cautioned that the front seat is a dangerous place for babies, especially in a rear-facing child seat.
Back seat the right place
“It puts them too close to the airbag when it deploys,” she says. “The right place is always in the back seat.”
The advice remains true even in newer vehicles with advanced airbag systems called Smart air bags that sense the weight of the occupant in the front passenger seat and either adjust the force of the inflation, or shut themselves off.
“Those work best for kids over 12 and smaller adults,” says Dalman.
For more information, watch The 60-Second Driver on CTV, or visit the following sections on this website:
- Occupant Restraints in The 60-Second Driver
- Air Bags in Road Safety
- You can access a 60-Second video on Child Car Seats directly
