| This is a clip from a video
produced by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. It depicts a split screen view of
two 35 MPH crash into a fixed barrier. In the bottom window the car is equipped with a working
air bag but in the top window the car has none. In both views, the crash test dummy
is using both the lap and shoulder belts. In the top window note the amount of
deflection in the steering wheel. This clip is in slow motion. The total actual running
time of the crash depicted in the clip is less than a second. The air bag fully inflates
faster than the blink of an eye.
Answers To Some Questions You May Have About This Test:
-
- Were the seat belts properly adjusted?
- Yes, the lap belt was positioned low and tight across the lap and the shoulder belt was
not allowed to be slack.
- Did they lock properly when the crash occurred?
- Yes.
- Why did the shoulder belt allow the dummy's head to strike the steering wheel?
- Because all seat belt webbing has some "stretch" in it. Air bags are designed
to prevent excessive forward movement of the head and upper body thus keeping you from
hitting the wheel and dashboard.
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