Children and Air Bags

updated 05-15-08

WARNING: Car seats, children and air bags!
Most new cars have air bags for front-seat passengers. When used with lap and shoulder combination seat belts, air bags work very well to protect older children and adults who ride facing the front of the car. However, rear-facing child safety seats (rear-facing only and convertible models installed facing the rear) cannot be used in a position equipped with an active front air bag. Because the back of a rear-facing child seat sits very close to the dashboard, the child restraint can be struck with enough force to cause serious, or even fatal injuries to a baby when the air bag deploys.

In North Carolina, children less than age 5 and less than forty pounds must ride in the back seat in most vehicles with active passenger air bags. It is especially critical that infants under 20 pounds OR less than a year in age ride in the rear seat a rear-facing child restraint if the car has an active passenger-side airbag.

Airbags can also seriously injure or kill an unbuckled or improperly buckled child or adult who is sitting too close to the air bag or who is thrown toward the dash during emergency braking. In a crash, the air bag inflates very quickly. It could hit anything close to the dashboard with enough force to cause severe injuries or even death.

Parents can choose to have an on-off switch installed for the air bags in their vehicle if they can certify that they are in one of the following risk groups:

• They MUST transport an infants riding in rear-facing infant seat in the front passenger seat, or
• They MUST transport children ages 1 to 12 in the front passenger seat.

For additional information on air bag on-off switches, refer to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's safercar.gov website.

If absolutely necessary, such as if you have four children to transport and three rear seat positions, front-facing convertible and full harness or belt positioning booster seats can be used in an airbag equipped position in some vehicles. Consult the vehicle's owner's manual for this vehicle-specific information. 

Remember that the rear seat is the safest place for children of any age to ride. Make sure that everyone who does ride in the front seat, especially with an airbag: 

• Is properly buckled up with snug, well adjusted lap and shoulder belts,
• Is positioned correctly on the vehicle seat. This means that the child or adult must sit fully upright with buttocks against the vehicle seat back (sitting forward in the seat will place the child or adult too close to the airbag), and
• Has the vehicle seat moved back away from the dashboard and airbag as far as possible.

Make sure that all young children are properly secured in a child safety seat/booster seat and older children by a lap and shoulder combination seat belt. Know how to properly install your child seat in the vehicle. Read both the owner's manual for the vehicle and the instructions for your child safety seat. 

Children and Side Air Bags
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and auto manufacturers have conducted crash tests that show some side impact air bags could probably injure out-of-position children. Real-world experience with children and side air bags in crashes has not yet been able to document the positive or negative effects of the side air bags.

Because of the potential danger, and since side air bag designs vary from vehicle to vehicle, NHTSA recommends that:

• Vehicle manufacturers inform parents as to whether or not it is safe for children to sit next to their side air bags, and that
• Vehicle manufacturers allow consumers with children who are likely to be out of position to have rear side air bags deactivated.

Child safety seat manufacturers may have their own advice about using their models in side air bad equipped positions. Read the child safety seat and vehicle manufacturers’ instructions for their recommendations.

For additional air bag-related information:

Link to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's safercar.gov website. The information on this site is provided to help answer concerns and questions about the use of vehicles equipped with air bags. Information here pertains to children and small adults as regards their interaction with air bag equipped vehicles as well as other vehicle specific information.

Link to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety for additional air bag-related information and suggestions for reducing the risk of serious inflation injuries.