In a message dated 4/10/99 12:39:17 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
bob1@structured.net writes:
> When I asked a car salesman about airbag safety, he says BMW doesn't
> recommend allowing kids under 100lbs to ride in the front passenger seat.
> What're the facts from various manufacturers of the nice autox 2-seaters ?
> '99 Mazda, Z3, Boxster etc. ? What about the 95 Rx-7 ? I have this
> vauge memory that the 91-to 96 cars have bags that are totally unsafe
> for my kids....
There are currently no airbags that are safe for kids, unless they have the
ability to be disabled when the child is in the passenger seat. You will
notice that all current model vehicles with no rear seat (pickups, sports
cars, etc.) have a passenger bag shutoff switch. There were many such
vehicles produced for a few years that lacked that feature, but anything with
only front seats produced for '99 and most or all such vehicles in '98 do
have the switch. I can't name specific models, and can't recall the data for
'97 models, but the switch is in the interior of the vehicle and in an
obvious place so it wouldn't be hard to find. It is a key-switch, by the way.
Never, never, never put a child in a location that would expose him/her to an
airbag deployment. Even at parking lot speeds they can often deploy, and it
is very common for them to deploy in collisions far too minor to be
appropriate.
As "smart bags" further develop they might prove to be safer in every
situation, but for now I don't believe in bags, except in life-threatening
impacts. The problem, however, is that the technology to date is not entire
trouble-free, and they (Bags) usually deploy when they don't need to (They
should only deploy if you, the occupant, would have physically impacted the
steering wheel, instrument panel or windshield). For this reason, I don't own
any SRS-equipped vehicles.
Good luck in your search.
Todd Cameron
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