Study Indicates That Lower Dash Airbags Are Ineffective

Knee airbags, which deploy from the lower dashboard and are intended to reduce leg injuries, have a negligible effect on injury risk and may even increase it in some cases, according to a study released Wednesday by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

"A lot of people have this idea that more is better," Becky Mueller, an IIHS senior research engineer and co-author of the study, told Automotive News. But this preliminary study indicates that idea may not be true, she said.

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MDarringer - 8/9/2019 11:15:15 AM

-8 Boost

The IIHS said we need knee bags and now they are saying knee bags are bad. The IIHS creates fake data for their owners--the insurance industry--to use to justify rate increases. The IIHS is NOT consumerist nor are they truthful.

TomM - 8/9/2019 2:51:27 PM

-8 Boost

Indeed - Matt

AS I have pointed out - there is NOT a single test or study that suggests that cars that do well on their Crash TESTS are safer in real life driving. We have no inside industry data that proves that insurance companies pay out less money for those cars that do well on those crashes.

THE ONLY thing these test prove is that on crashes similar to the ones they test the vehicles - the cars that do better on those tests might be better - but that is not proven either. WHY - because the likelihood of a controlled acceleration crash being exactly like their tests happening in real life at the exact angles they specify - the exact speeds they use - and the exact weather conditions they use - is about as likely as winning the lottery.

WE still have a HUGE new problem with them coming - based on liability for Autonomous Vehicles. I am wondering how the manufacturers are going to protect themselves against great financial loss based on the possibility of software glitches that the OWNER would have no responsibility for.

MDarringer - 8/9/2019 11:11:19 PM

0 Boost

Hey Tom, we BOTH got voted down to minus 7. LOL Hell must have frozen over.

TomM - 8/11/2019 3:38:57 PM

+1 Boost

I think the point I am trying to make is that we have had these airbags in cars for a while - LIKELY because they allowed cars to PASS tests in the IIHS crash testing.

Now - real world data shows that they likely are not necessary.
In this case - is IIHS actually proving that their Crash testing information is unreliable? Sure looks like it.

MDarringer - 8/11/2019 4:01:04 PM

+1 Boost

The job of the IIHS is to create data that will allow their owners--the insurance industry--to be able to charge higher rates. The IIHS cares not a lick about safety or consumers. Their job is to bitch about something so that the insurance industry can turn around jack up rates because your car "has that thing".