Is a knee air bag going to save your life? Probably not. But it
could make a hospital stay shorter, or prevent an injury
altogether.
There is no dispute that air bags save lives and minimize
injuries. Driver's-side air bags became mandatory for all vehicles
sold in the U.S. in 1989, and passenger-side devices became
mandatory in 1998. Since then, side air bags and side-curtain air
bags have become commonplace, and manufacturers have upped the ante
with additional air bags for knees and on seat belts.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)
estimates that air bags have saved more than 22,000 lives since
1987.
Now Volvo has added an air bag for someone who's not even in the
car.
Volvo says the external air bag on its redesigned V40 will
prevent loss of life in 85 percent of crashes where the pedestrian
otherwise would be killed. When the bumper senses a collision with
a pedestrian, the rear of the hood is released and the air bag
inflates to cover one-third of the windshield while raising the
back of the car hood, which is designed to reduce the severity of
injuries.
A dangerous intersection
About 12 pedestrians die every day in accidents with motor
vehicles in the U.S, according to NHTSA. The 4,280 pedestrians
killed in the U.S. in 2010 accounted for 12 percent of all traffic
fatalities, and an additional 70,000 pedestrians were injured. (See
"
The most dangerous cities for pedestrians
.")
So, is a pedestrian air bag really necessary? If you're the one
on foot, the answer is probably a resounding "yes." If you're a
driver, a pedestrian air bag could decrease the odds of an incident
that will change your life forever -- psychologically and
financially -- as well.
Pedestrian accidents tend to cost more than crashes between two
cars. In 2011, the
San Francisco Department of Public Health
estimated the average cost of admitting an injured pedestrian to
the emergency room at $80,000 -- an amount that greatly exceeds
even the largest state-minimum
bodily injury liability coverage
requirement.
"Generally, any accident with a pedestrian involves
substantially more medical treatment and care, more pain and
suffering, and thus larger settlements and insurance claims," says
attorney Mike Wade of the Wade & Nysather law firm in
Phoenix.
The latest and greatest
Volvo's pedestrian air bag is not the only new contender in the
air bag race.
Ford introduced its rear inflatable seat belt in the 2011
Explorer and quickly expanded it to the Flex and Lincoln lineup.
These air bags inflate in 40 milliseconds and distribute the crash
force over the passenger's torso and shoulder, then stay inflated
for several seconds before deflating. (Ford also has a pedestrian
air bag in the works.)
GM offers its industry-first front center air bag in three of
its 2013 models. This air bag deploys from the right side of the
driver's seat, creating a barrier between the driver and front-seat
passenger. This prevents far-side incidents that occur when a front
occupant is thrown into the other seat or passenger during a
side-impact crash. According to NHTSA, nearly 29 percent of
fatalities in side-impact, nonrollover accidents are caused by
far-side incidents.
While only dual frontal air bags are mandated by law, you would
be hard pressed to find a car that doesn't have more as standard
equipment. Even the cheapest passenger car sold in the U.S., the
Nissan Versa
, has six: dual front air bags, dual front side air bags, and dual
side-curtain air bags.
But air bags alone do not make a vehicle safe, no matter how
many you pack into the interior. A car with six well-placed
advanced air bags and a body designed to absorb crash energy can be
safer than a poorly designed vehicle stuffed with 10 air bags, as
ratings from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) have
shown.
Air bags save money
Air bags save insurance companies money by reducing injury
claims, and thus can save you money as well.
David Prario, an actuary at Amica Mutual Insurance Company, says
discounts start at 20 percent for front and passenger air bags and
go up from there. When side air bags are standard, the discount can
shoot up to 40 percent depending on your policy and insurer.
But these discounts apply only to coverages that are directly
affected by air bags, Prario warns. If you are carrying only
liability on your vehicle, a side air bag discount would not apply,
for example. Typically, the discount is applied to the medical
payments or personal injury portion of a car insurance premium.
Unfortunately, a discount for that pedestrian air bag -- which
would affect your liability coverage, in this case, because
liability covers the injuries you inflict on others -- will not be
available for a while. According to Prario, insurance companies
usually hold off on setting a new discount category for recently
introduced air bags and other safety devices until they gain
traction in the marketplace. (See "5 safety features that do what
drivers used to.")
And even if there aren't specific discounts for a particular air
bag, insurance companies look at their overall claims payouts when
setting rates. A model with fewer injury claims gets lower
rates.
And air bags cost money
All of this safety can send a car to the graveyard
prematurely.
Federal safety rules prevent air bags from being reused, so
every air bag deployed in a car accident needs to be replaced with
a new one. The added expense of air bags can push the cost of
repair over the value of the car, which leaves the insurer with no
choice but to total it.
Replacing a deployed air bag can run up to $1,000, and that
doesn't include the labor and sensors. Advanced two- and
three-stage air bags can be even more expensive. If a car has 10
air bags and they all deploy in an accident, the repair bill starts
at $10,000.
The percentage of car insurance claims declared a total loss in
2010 was around 14 percent, according the CCC Information Services
2011 Crash Course report. This figure has been climbing for a
number of years and is currently at one of the highest levels ever
seen.
While air bags certainly raise the repair bills, they can't take
all of the blame. Advanced electronics, backup cameras, built-in
GPS units and lighter, more expensive materials also add to higher
repair costs.