| bigmac99 |
Is it safe to have my two year old's car seat sitting on the passenger side (of the back seat of course) in the new MDX with side curtain airbags, or should I move his seat back to the middle of the seat?
Thanks
Charles |
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| wmquan |
The side curtain airbags deploy downward, and not with the same type of force associated with a front airbag. Thus there is no documented evidence that they present a hazard for kids. So it is safe.
However, a child is always safer in the middle of the second row than in either outboard position. Whether there are side curtain airbags, or regular side airbags, or no airbags. (Realistically, it's debatable how much protection a side curtain provides a two year old in most restraints, since the cushioning is optimized toward the middle of the window.) It's simple physics that a collision into a vehicle will have much less intrusion toward the middle. |
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| XStatic |
| Aren't the side curtains mostly just a shield to keep heads from crashing through the glass not a impact cushion like the front airbag? |
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| wmquan |
quote:
Originally posted by XStatic
Aren't the side curtains mostly just a shield to keep heads from crashing through the glass not a impact cushion like the front airbag?
Not at all. They primarily provide an impact cushion, so that the head does not contact the window, or, worse yet, the hood of an impacting vehicle. IIHS's recent new side impact test demonstrate this, as do the widely used, older "pole test" conducted occasionally by IIHS for demo purposes and routinely performed by Euroncap.
The fact that they may help shield the person from flying glass and slightly reduce partial ejection risk is a bonus.
This is why side curtains are so desirable, and why, given the marketplace, I will never buy another vehicle without them.
From IIHS:
quote:
Each year more than 9,000 passenger vehicle occupants die in side impacts. Head injuries are a leading cause. The new research findings mean the toll should be reduced in the future.
"The need for head protection in side impacts has been obvious for some time," says Institute president Brian O'Neill. "Before head-protecting airbags were available there was virtually nothing to prevent people's heads from being struck by intruding vehicles or rigid objects like trees and poles in serious side impact crashes. Now we know side airbags can change this and do a good job of protecting heads."
When occupants' heads are in the window areas of vehicles they're especially vulnerable to being struck by intruding vehicles or objects. O'Neill points out that "the increasing number of high-riding vehicles on the road these days increases this risk, making it more likely that the front end of a striking vehicle in a side impact will hit the heads of occupants in the struck vehicle. This is why side airbags with head protection are so important."
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