Americans Misinformed About Air Bags Public ‘Excessively Optimistic’ About The Devices, Survey Finds

While passenger-side air bags have killed at least 38 children, far overshadowing any possible instances of youngsters being saved by the devices, a majority of Americans believe the reverse is true, a new survey shows.

Nearly 60 percent of adults polled by the Center for Risk Analysis at the Harvard University School of Public Health mistakenly believe that air bags are helping more children than they are hurting.

Although survey participants recognized that air bags can save lives, they were unclear about the range of injuries air bags can cause.

“The public has a perhaps excessively optimistic and favorable view of what air bags are doing for them,” said John Graham, director of the center and the study’s lead author.

Of the 38 children who have been killed by air bags, all were sitting in the front passenger seat and most were decapitated, Graham said.

Nine of those were infants. Of the 29 older children, 25 were not wearing seat belts and two were wearing lap belts without shoulder belts, according to Brian O’Neill, president of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety in Arlington, Va.

Air bags, which are deployed at up to 200 mph, are credited with saving more than 1,600 lives.

However, Graham said he has found no documented cases of children’s lives being saved by the inflatable safety devices.

“The public has missed the point that most of the (air bag) deaths and serious injuries involve people who were unbelted or had placed children or infants improperly in seats in front of passenger air bags,” said O’Neill, whose institute is financed by the insurance industry.

Automakers, the federal government and safety groups say children 12 and under should sit in the back seat, yet fewer than 25 percent knew the correct answer. Children are 30 percent to 50 percent safer in the back seat, Graham said.