AIRBAGS EXPLAINATION

AIRBAGS

Automakers started installing driver air bags in the late '80s, adding them on the passenger side in the early '90s, and in light trucks in the mid '90s. Since their development, air bags have saved thousands of lives. However, air bags can be extremely dangerous when infants or young children are seated in front of them.

Air bags protect drivers and passengers during frontal crashes and are designed to work together with seat belts. However, air bags and seat belts were designed to protect average-sized adult males, not children. That's why they pose a serious risk to children riding in the front seat.

To keep your older child (age 13 and up) safe in the front seat: 

• move the front seat as far back as possible from the dashboard
• teach your child not to lean forward to change the radio dial or to insert CDs
• insist that your child sit upright against the seatback, with the seat belt snug at all time.

The Air Bag System

• The air bag system includes the air bag itself, a sensor, and a diagnostic unit that controls the system. In a head-on crash, the vehicle's front-end crushes, absorbing crash energy and creating a softer stop for restrained occupants. 
• An unrestrained or loosely restrained person will continue to move forward at the same speed until hitting the car's interior. Properly restrained occupants come to a more gradual stop, along with the vehicle. 
• Air bags also help drivers and passengers come to a more gradual stop, preventing contact with a vehicle’s interior and distribute crash forces more broadly across the body than with a seat belt alone.
• As the crash happens, sensors send a signal to the air bag. 
• A chemical reaction produces harmless nitrogen gas that fills the bag and pushes it out of its compartment.
• The whole process takes only about 1/20th of a second. (Half the time it takes you to blink!) The air bag then starts to deflate as the gas disappears, absorbing crash energy. 

TYPES OF CHILD SEAT

New child restraint laws

New national child restraint laws were introduced on 1 March 2010. A transitional period was in place until 30 June 2010 to give parents and carers time to fully understand and comply with the new laws. However, all children up to seven years of age must now be safely fastened into the right restraint for their age and size.

A child that is properly secured in an approved child restraint is less likely to be injured or killed in a car crash than one who is not.

Summary of changes

The new national child restraint laws state:

• Children younger than six months must be secured in a rearward facing restraint.

• Children aged six months to under four years must be secured in either a rear or forward facing restraint.

• Children aged four years to under seven years must be secured in forward facing child restraint or booster seat.

• Children younger than four years cannot travel in the front seat of a vehicle with two or more rows.

• Children aged four years to under seven years cannot travel in the front seat of a vehicle with two or more rows, unless all other back seats are occupied by children younger than seven years in a child restraint or booster sea

1. Rearwardfacing Baby Seats

• Group 0 for babies up to 10 kgs (22 lbs) roughly from birth to 0-6 months, or
• Group 0+ for babies up to 13kg (29lbs) roughly from birth to 12-15 months
• They can be used in the front or rear of the car. It is safer to put them in the rear. DO NOT put them in the front passenger seat if there is a passenger airbag.
•  Rearwardfacing seats provide greater protection for the baby's head, neck and spine than forwardfacing seats. 
• So, it is best to keep your baby in a rearwardfacing seat for as long as possible. 
• Only move them to a forwardfacing seat once they have exceeded the maximum weight for the baby seat, or the top of their head is higher than the top of the seat.

2. Forwardfacing child seat

• Group 1 for children weighing 9-18kgs (20-40lbs) roughly from 7 months to 4 years.
• They can be used in the front or rear of the car, but it is safer to put them in the rear, especially if there is a passenger airbag in the front.
• Only move your child to a booster seat once they have exceeded the maximum weight for the child seat, or the top of their head is higher than the top of the seat.

3. Booster seat

• Group 2 for children weighing 15-25kgs (33-55lbs) roughly 4 to 7 years.
• They can be used in the front or rear of the car, but it is safer to put them in the rear, especially if there is a passenger airbag in the front.
• Some Booster seats are designed to be converted into a booster cushion by detaching the back rest.

4.Booster Cushion

• Group 3 for children weighing 22-36kgs (48-79lbs) roughly from 6-11years.
• They can be used in the front or rear of the car, but it is safer to put them in the rear, especially if there is a passenger airbag in the front.
• Booster seats and booster cushions do not have an integral harness to hold the child in place. The adult seat belt goes around the child and the seat.
• So it is important that the seat belt is correctly adjusted. The basic points to note are:
•  the belt should be worn as tight as possible
• the lap belt should go over the pelvic region, not the stomach
• the diagonal strap should rest over the shoulder, not the neck.

HOW TO WEAR A SEATBELT PROPERLY

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  Step 1: Pull belt across body

  Sit in any of your vehicle’s seats and secure the three-point harness in its buckle by pulling it across your body.

• *TIP

  If the seatbelt is too short, consider an aftermarket restraint and extender. Make sure they meet federal safety standards and are installed professionally.
• 
  

  Step 2: Adjust lower belt

  Adjust the lower belt snuggly across your lap and pelvis area – never your stomach.

• *TIP

  Pregnant women should wear the lap belt below their belly, not on or above it.
• 
  

  Step 3: Adjust shoulder belt

  Adjust the shoulder belt to fit comfortably across the collarbone and chest. It should never rub on your neck or face. Never put the shoulder belt behind your back or under your arm.
• 
  

  Step 4: Check before driving

  Check that the belt is secure before driving.
  
  
  
  

SEAT BELTS

1. A seat belt or seatbelt, sometimes called a safety belt, is a safety harness designed to secure the occupant of a vehicle against harmful movement that may result from a collision or a sudden stop.
2. As part of an overall automobile passive safety system, seat belts are intended to reduce injuries by stopping the wearer from hitting hard interior elements of the vehicle, or other passengers (the so-called second impact), are in the correct position for the airbag to deploy and prevent the passenger from being thrown from the vehicle.
3. Seat belts also absorb energy by being designed to stretch during any sudden deceleration, so that there is less speed differential between the passenger's body and their vehicle interior, and also to spread the loading of impact on the passengers body.
4. The final, so-called 'third impact' after a passenger's body hits the car interior, airbag or seat belts, is that of the internal organs hitting the ribcage or skull. The force of this impact is the mechanism through which car crashes cause disabling or life threatening injury.
5. The sequence of energy dissipating and speed reducing technologies - crumple zone - seat belt - airbags - padded interior.They are designed to work together as a system to reduce the force of this final impact.

HISTORY ABOUT RESTRAINT SYSTEM

1. Automobiles entered the market more than 100 years ago. Since then, tremendous progress in reliability,usability, and safety of roadway vehicles has been made. 
2. Over the last 20 years, the automotive safety industry has gone through considerable changes.In recent years, passive restraint systems have been one of the fastest-growing sectors within the automotive industry.
3. One reason for this growth is the inclusion of additional restraint devices on vehicles.For example, the average number of air-bag modules has increased from one to two per vehicle in the early 1990s to four to six per vehicle for the latest models, with more expected to come.
4. Another reason for this growth is an increase in the complexity and sophistication of the safety systems' functional requirements.For example, to minimize out-of-position occupant injuries, a smart air-bag system needs to be equipped with occupant-sensing capabilities.
5. Particularly notable in the evolution of restraint systems has been the phenomenon of increasing use of electronics, which has occurred in parallel in the automotive world, as well as most technology fields.Upcoming products implemented in electronics, such as rollover and other sensors, are being added into an integrated vehicular safety system.