ALL
CHILDREN ALWAYS IN THE BACK SEAT:
A SIMPLISTIC BAND-AIDE SOLUTION FRAUGHT WITH
DANGER
Airbags
are life saving devices, and should be taken advantage of whenever
possible. Rear-facing infants are now in a position to ride
in a newly introduced PIONEEREDTM Airbag Compatible infant seat,
which does utilize airbag energy to enhance infant safety. This
is particularly significant due to the fact that rear-facing
infants in the back seat are often the source of accident causing
distractions.
Several
months ago Eric Peters, and Csaba Csere independently wrote
about some of the reasons that the airbag compatible infant
seat is an important contribution to the safety of traveling
infants.
Eric Peters
dealt directly with the airbag compatible infant seat which
Xportation Safety Concepts, Inc. (XSCi) is marketing under the
PIONEEREDTM Safety Products label. The seat which was tested
well over one hundred times in the US and Europe. Biomechanical
data, when interacting with an airbag, clearly demonstrates
that the seat offers better protection for a traveling infant
when interacting with an airbag, than do conventional seats
with, or without an airbag. The PIONEEREDTM Seat meets, and
surpasses the biomechanical standards proposed by NHTSA for
the upcoming revived FMVSS-213, with or without an airbag. As
a matter of fact, the seat takes advantage of the airbag, and
crash data demonstrates that it enhances the safety of traveling
infants over any other means of transport.
Both Peters
and Csere deal with the fact that infants in the back seat cause
driver distractions, distractions more severe than cell phones,
electronic guidance systems, or eating a sandwich. The anecdotal
conclusions regarding distractions due to infants in the back
seat is supported by quite a large number of studies. XSCi,
for example, retained, Sheldon Lee Stucki, formerly a world-class
crashworthiness expert at NHTSA to review Government databases
for correlation between infant back seat distractions, and fatalities.
Stucki's conclusion was startling, the correlation was significant,
and in 2001 it was presented as a part of an invited paper to
the SAE Annual Congress.
In a way
of a simple explanation of the Stucki study, it was based on
the ratio of infants "on-road" (leaving on a trip)
in the front seat, versus those in the back seat compared to
the ratio at fatal crash sights. The change was statistically
quite significant; a measurable increase in the ration in favor
of those in the back seat. Using NHTSA methodology, Mr. Stucki's
conclusions support the Peters, and Csere, views that infants
in the back seat distract drivers, and cause accidents. Mr.
Stucki's conclude, that all other things being equal, a seat
that allows infants to be placed safely in the front seat, will
save as many as 35 lives annually, and should eliminate over
600 irreversible injuries to traveling infants.
The Fraser
Group which conducted phone interviews, as well as focus groups
arrived at the same conclusions, but based on opinion of parents,
through studies.
The simplistic
solution of putting all infants in the back seat, likely cause
accidents due to distractions, and must be reexamined. It was
a good band-aide until a seat that works with an airbag became
available, but now that one is on the market, the issue must
be reevaluated.
Adding to
the above reasoning, the fact that four out of the top ten selling
vehicles in the US are pickup trucks in which infants should
not be in the back seat. Also, even if a by-pass switch was
available, while two adults and an infant were to ride at the
same time, with the PIONEERED seat can assure that all three
passengers can derive benefits from the airbags.
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Both
articles referred to were published in February, 2002.
The one by Peters, who is a known writer in the area of
automotive safety, was published in the Washington Times.
The Csere article was published in Car and Driver (not
Road and Track as my submission states). Csaba Csere,
a well respected automotive writer, is editor-in-chief
of Car and Driver.
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By:
Dan Goor,
GA International, Inc. (GAI)
719-593-8881
FAX: 719-593-8882
email: BUPPAHXSCI@AOL.COM
