Perhaps?
Posted on 06/04/2005 7:45:39 AM PDT by new cruelty
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates that airbags installed in automobiles have saved some 10,000 lives as of January 2004. A just-released study by a statistician at the University of Georgia, however, casts doubt on that assertion. In fact, said UGA statistics professor Mary C. Meyer, a new analysis of existing data indicates that, controlling for other factors, airbags are actually associated with slightly increased probability of death in accidents.
"NHTSA recorded 238 deaths due to airbags between 1990 and 2002, according to information about these deaths on their Web site,” said Meyer. “They all occurred at very low speeds, with injuries that could not have been caused by anything else. But is it reasonable to conclude that airbags cause death only at very low speeds? It seems more likely that they also cause deaths at high speeds, but these are attributed to the crash.
“For any given crash at high speed, we can’t know what would have happened if there had been no airbag; however, statistical models allow us to look at patterns in the data, and compare risks in populations, in a variety of situations.”
The study was published this week in the magazine Chance.
The new analysis directly contradicts earlier studies about the effectiveness of airbags, which have been required for drivers and front-seat passengers in all cars since the 1998 model year in the United States.
While the value of airbags seems dubious in the new study, the value of seatbelts is not. The analysis found that proper use of a seatbelt reduces the odds of death by 67 percent for any given speed category and airbag availability. Airbags, however, cause no statistical difference in car-crash deaths, except for unseatbelted occupants at low speeds, where the odds of death are estimated to be more than four times higher with an airbag than without.
It has been known for some time that airbags pose special risks to children and small women. Auto manuals routinely say young children, especially those in car seats, should not be put in front seats where they might be injured or killed by an inflating airbag.
The reason earlier studies have found that airbags save lives is that they used only a special subset of the available data, said Meyer. The Fatality Analysis and Reporting System (FARS) is a high-quality compilation of information about every highway accident for which a death occurred. The Crashworthiness Data System (CDS) is another high-quality dataset, containing random samples of all accidents. The previous studies used FARS, and Meyer’s study used CDS.
“When we look at the random sample of all accidents, we find that airbags are associated with increased risk of death,” she said, “and this increase is due to more deaths with airbags in low-speed crashes and no seatbelts. However, if we limit the dataset to include only collisions in which a fatality occurred, we get a significantly reduced risk of death due to airbags.”
By way of analogy, the Meyer explained it this way: “If you look at people who have some types of cancer, you will see that those who get radiation treatment have a better chance of surviving than those who don’t. However, radiation is inherently dangerous and could actually cause cancer. If you give everyone radiation treatments, whether they have cancer or not, you will probably find an increased risk of death in the general population.
“Making everyone have airbags and then verifying the effectiveness using only fatal crashes in FARS is like making everyone get radiation and then estimating the lives saved by looking only at people who have cancer. Overall, there will be more deaths if everyone is given radiation, but in the cancer subset, radiation will be effective.”
The new study directly contradicts assertions about airbag safety on the NHTSA Web site, said Meyer. The correct analysis is important to obtain now, because in only a few years, there will be virtually no cars on the road without airbags.
“We are confident that our analyses better reflect the actual effectiveness of airbags in the general population [than earlier studies],” said Meyer. “The evidence shows that airbags do more harm than good.”
Ironic that so many Police stations are advertising their enforcement of wearing seat belts for the summer.
Doncha just love it when the goobermint protects us from ourselves?
I can see where deployment of airbags could be fatal. What I'm more concerned about are seatbelts, particularly the shoulder harnesses. I have a problem finding one that fits properly. I'm short, and most of these harnesses come around my throat. I think if I were in an accident, I'd probably be decapitated. But I have only found maybe one or two shoulder harnesses that actually fit comfortably. And I don't think the car manufacturers will be interested in making these harnesses to fit everyone until there is an accident where one of them does cause harm and they are sued.
10,000 vice 243? I like those percentages for airbags. Go buy the cutoff switch if you feel otherwise.
I feel safer every day.
Wow. Just how short are you? Perhaps you could use a pillow to lift you up. I think that is what my grandmother did, before we convinced her to stop driving.
Buy one of the thick sheepskin pads that you can put on the shoulder harness. They have them at auto stores and even WalMart. I had the same problem, and the pad not only makes the belt more comfortable and keeps it off your neck, but covers up that sharp edge.
"wear a seatbelt. protect yourself (from your airbag)."
The problem is the gov't requires that the air bag stop an adult not wearing a seat belt. So they deploy with a lot of force.
The requirement of stopping an adult without a seat belt in not universally required. I believe Europe requires stopping an adult wearing a seat belt. Deployment under this requirement is less lethal. This makes more sense to me.
Follow the money...TRW and airbags?
Nice source of local revenue for seatbelt "violations"
After the Feds drain the local cash cows (taxpayers) (and stopped kicking any money back the states,counties,and municipalities) they too must 'wet their beaks' and milk those same cows even more than they were milked before the feds stopped kicking back..
imo
You should visit (gulp) your car dealership (if your car is fairly new.) They should be able to assist you in getting properly set-up. Passenger safety is a very big selling point for Honda, Volvo, Saab, Mercedes - probably for the others as well.
And mark my words - some day the use of sun screen will be tied the recent increase in skin cancer cases.
How did the species survive for thousands of years before the invention of sun screen?
I've learned to drive with my seat position further back away from the airbag.
And I no longer drive with my hand on top of the steering wheel, because if the airbag deploys it can force your arm back into your face breaking your nose, knock teeth out etc.
So I've learned to grip the steering wheel on the lower half.
Idiots in DC deciding what we eat, read, drive, see, etc.
It sure aint't the same country I grew up in where I could go anywhere playing with my friends until "dinner time", to fearing my children will be raped and murdered by the "family member" visiting my neighbor because do gooders put him back on the streets.
I think it is more of an issue with insurance companies who got sold on the idea --- most of their claims come from the idiot-types that do not wear their seatbelts.
I am convinced that --- if wearing a seatbelt --- airbags are useless ---- or worse, dangerous.
It is a situation where --- as per usual --- the government hurts the sensible person who wears a seatbelt in order to protect the morons of the world.
Chasing this botton 10% of society at the cost of the top 90% --- in schools, in work, in whatever.
Alas, that bottom 10% of morons are reliable Dimocrat voters.
"The problem is the gov't requires that the air bag stop an adult not wearing a seat belt"
Right, and a male adult too. With a weight of about 160 lbs. iirc.
From this article it sounds like they should do something with the cars so that the airbag will not deploy unless the car is going above a certain rate of speed. I think that would improve their death statistics a good deal.
Our new car has a sensor with the passenger side airbag, it only becomes functional if a full sized/weight person sits there. So if you, for whatever reason, have to put a little kid in that seat the bag is not functional. It's not an on/off switch though.
I have it on good authority that leaded paint provides the same level of protection if you eat enough of it.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.