<p>Just wanted to warn folks to consider adjusting their seats in the car so they’re not too far forward. Mom was stopped on the highway today behind a SUV when a 3rd car (another SUV) slammed into her and pushed her into the SUV in front of her. Her airbags deployed and fractured her sternum & several upper ribs. She’s in her 80s & in the hospital overnight for observation. </p>
<p>She has osteopenia, but she does tend to have her seat in the car adjusted fairly far forward. Her car with 500 miles on it has been totaled and had to be towed from the scene. </p>
<p>Fortunately, it was a fairly heavy car she was driving or she could have been in MUCH worse shape, but we’re dreading a fairly long recovery.</p>
<p>I am short. 5’ 1" at most. I remember seeing a show years ago about keeping a safe distance from the steering wheel. They suggested that your chest should be no closer to the steering wheel than an 11" piece of paper. Sitting in your car, hold a piece of typing paper horizontally between your chest and the center of the steering wheel. It should fit without bending. apparently, that’s a safe distance.</p>
<p>Wow. so glad that it wasn’t any worse. Impact in that location can be dangerous-I know someone who had their seat belt fracture their sternum in an accident and they spent 3 days in a cardiac ICU as there was evidence of bleeding in a perilous location near the heart. Best to your mother.
This is a good reminder about desired distance- including that between cars!</p>
<p>So sorry for your mom. Watch her hearing. My parents had their bag go off after hitting a deer and both seem to lose some hearing. We aren’t really sure if they did (although they were sure) because they refused to have their hearing checked :)</p>
<p>I’m sorry your mom was injured. The airbag saved her life or prevented her from much more serious injury, including the kind of head injury we all dread. I hope she recovers well.</p>
<p>Sorry for her injury. But I thought that usually airbags deploy in front impact accidents, not rear impact, even if it pushes you into another vehicle, unless, I suppose, there was sufficient G force, in which case I agree, the airbag probably saved her life.</p>
<p>Sorry to hear your mom was in an accident. Broken ribs are painful, too, but that must have been some kind of force to have caused the front bags to release. My docs told me not to position my seat too close to the passenger seat airbags after my heart attack. They did not want any more damage there!</p>
<p>My girls and I are all short (“elegantly petite”) and we sit way too close to the steering column. Thanks for the reminder to keep looking for solutions that would let us move the seat back.</p>
<p>I think the reason the airbag deployed and maybe why HImom’s mom was hurt is her car was pushed into another car. That means a rear impact followed by a front impact, with the 2nd setting off the airbag. She may have been pushed closer to the wheel by the first. The very first impact would push her into the seat but people rebound and she may have been moving forward when the front sensors went off and the airbag shot out.</p>
<p>Wishing an uneventful recovery! Did your mom have her seat belt on? A large number of airbag injuries on smaller stature people are due to sitting too close to the steering wheel and not wearing a seat belt. Pedals can be added to increase distance from the steering wheel, there should be a minimum of 10" between your chest and steering wheel. There is also an option of deactivating the airbag. I would only consider this as a last resort if she faithfully wears a seat belt and pedals don’t work.</p>
<p>Stradmom, we have the same dilemma. Now I’m not sure what to do. For petite drivers, sitting high and up close to the steering column helps us see and maintain control. I hate the feeling of being laid back and low from the windshield. I feel as though I’m a much better driver with commanding view over the hood of the car. Perhaps that even saves a mishap.</p>
<p>I see from this thread that my D is driving much too close to the steering wheel. We both could use some practical solutions. Seat cushions for height (rather than closeness)? </p>
<p>Thanks for the thread, really makes me think.</p>
<p>I know of two women who were killed by airbag deployments in low speed accidents (under 20 mph). One was geriatric, but the other was in her 50’s. Both were short.</p>
<p>I’m not sure what the answer is, but I think its important to adjust the seat and steering column so that you’re at arms length (nearly) from the center of the steering wheel, and so that your head is high enough so you won’t be hit in the face by an airbag deployment. (No “peeping” under the top of the steering wheel and over the dash)</p>
<p>Since most short people are going to have trouble reaching the pedals, this will require the adjustable steering column to be pushed/collapsed all the way in towards the engine as the standard driving position.</p>
<p>The airbag explodes with tremendous force to get itself inflated before your body can hit the steering wheel. If you’re up close towards it when it happens, you get more force than you would in the actual collision. But you do want to make sure that if that happens, you get the impact in the chest/sternum, and not up under your chin.</p>
<p>I think some advances have occured in technology that varies the explosive force depending on the speed just prior to the triggering, but I’m not sure what cars have the “smart” airbag technology. Also, the passenger side airbag is potentially more dangerous because it explodes with more force in order to fill the larger area between the dash and the passenger.</p>
<p>I’ve had an airbag deploy on me a few years ago - I was doing about 50 when the guy on the other side of the undivided highway was waiting to turn left with his wheel turned, and someone behind him didn’t see him stopped and hit and pushed him right into my path. I don’t believe I even braked and literally have no recollection of what happened other than finding my car stopped, a weird odor, glasses missing and shoulder hurting. </p>
<p>Surprisingly the only residual symptom was an ugly 6" bruise in my upper chest near the left shoulder/neck where the seat belt caught. Nothing on my face, my knees, or anywhere else. I can’t believe what it would take to make a booboo like that, or how it would have been if my face and windshield had been the players in that exercise. I am 5-9, 170 and kept the seat as far back, but vertical, and hands never at a 10 - 2 O’clock position, but rather at something like 7 and 5, all more from a comfort standpoint rather than for air bag considerations. Clearly this config worked out.
Thank you Honda, thank you seat belt, thank you air bag. And I wish DW would start to buckle up…</p>
<p>Airbags deploy with extensive force. Even IF your seat and seatbelt are adjusted correctly and you are not tiny or older, the airbag deployment can cause injuries. Friend had broken ribs and a collapsed lung, DD was bruised from her chin to her knees. All injuries were from the airbags…which likely saved them from more serious injuries!</p>
<p>So sorry about your mom. I hope everything works out. I’m 6’0" and always have the seat as far back as possible. I’d imagine it would be uncomfortable for shorter people to maintain that distance. </p>
<p>At least the car had airbags. We found out the hard way that my dad’s brand new truck did not. Cost him a normal life since his head separated the steering wheel and then busted part of the door. Air bag would have saved him from the massive head injuries he sustained. I agree with jym- PLEASE always wear your seatbelt. After a seatbelt saved my dad’s life, I’m militant about it.</p>
<p>Jym…I think he said DW…his wife. I will tell you that all folks riding as passengers when I’m driving MUST buckle up…or we don’t go anywhere. My car, my rules, my insurance!</p>
<p>Buckling up is the law here. Not sure what insurance would do in the event of an accident and an unbuckled person and I don’t want to find out.</p>
<p>I can’t imagine a GOOD reason for not fastening seatbelts!</p>
</p>