Point / Counterpoint

How many Lives Do Airbags Really Save?

Douglas Gan — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 14:33:24 GMT

Did you ever wonder just how many lives and people have been affected by airbags and seat belts? We are often asked that question and there are lots of statistics out there addressing this issue. We found it amazing how much these restraint systems have increasingly changed our lives and the lives of those around us year after year.

Although some of these statistics are good news, some of them are not:

Here are the answers that tell the real story.

In 2006, NHTSA conducted the National Occupant Protection Use Survey (NOPUS). The overall observed shoulder belt use rate was 82 percent in 2005, compared to 80 percent observed in 2004.

From 1987 to 2005, a total of 19,659 lives were saved.

In 2005 alone, an estimated 2,740 lives were saved by air bags.

However also in 2005, 31,415 occupants were killed (passenger cars, light trucks, vans, and SUVs) in motor vehicle traffic crashes, 72 percent of the 43,443 traffic fatalities reported for the year. Of the 31,415 passenger vehicle occupant fatalities in 2005, restraint use was unknown for 2,229 (7%). Of the remaining 29,186 passenger vehicle occupant fatalities for which restraint use was known, 16,172 (55%) were unrestrained.

We found it amazing that over half of the people killed in motor vehicle accidents were not using restraints of any kind. Can you imagine how many families, friends, co-workers, husbands, wives, parents, children and loved ones whose lives would be so very different if these people used a restraint when they were driving? How many more loved ones would be with us if only for their own sake they 'buckled up'?

Airbags and seat belt safety restraint systems are helping. The data is very clear. But it only gets better when we get better. The automakers can only do so much to protect us and our family. We need to use these devices. We only need to put our infants in a child seat in the rear seat and buckle up whenever we are in a vehicle, as a driver or a passenger.

“In 2005, 66 percent of the passenger vehicle occupants 25 to 34 years old killed in traffic crashes were not using restraints — the highest percentage for any age group.”

There are lots of people counting on us to do the right thing.

(Source of information obtained from National Safety Council.)

“5 Stars”...How Safe Is That?

Douglas Gan — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 20:45:41 GMT

What exactly does the government “5 Star Crash Rating” mean? You won’t believe the answer!! If you’re in an accident, these ratings may not help you.

Almost every car company proudly displays their “5 Star Safety Crash Rating”, each manufacturer boasting their cars are safer than the others. But what does it all mean to you? How do they determine safety and how do they come up with a star program? Does a vehicle with a less than 5 star rating really mean it’s not safe to drive?

Let me begin to explain what they are all talking about. The ratings are determined by crash dummies, wired with sensors, placed in vehicles front and rear seats, and crashed into barriers to simulate an accident. But before we get into the particulars, let’s first understand the parameters.

1. The tests are conducted at speeds of 35 to 38.5 mph. Wait a minute.....35-38.5 mph? Who drives 35-38.5 mph. when the rest of the world is traveling at 45-75 mph? The government safety ratings do not cover anything over 38.5 mph. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety raises the bar though...they test at 40mph; a full 1 1⁄2 mile per hour faster...zoom, zoom.

2. Crash dummies only simulate full size adults, not teens, not children, not infants. Aren’t teenagers, children and infants passengers too? Why don’t they count in the ‘rating’ system?The crash dummies are wearing seat belts in all cases, front and rear seats...(everyone in vehicles always wears their seat belts, don’t they?).

3. The crash dummies are wired to measure injuries to head, neck, chest, pelvis, legs and feet, but all these findings are not included in the rating. The ratings only measure head and chest injuries for frontal crashes and head injuries only for side crashes (evidently, other injuries are not serious enough to count in a government study).

4. Impact assumptions are for similar vehicles, differing no more than 250 lbs. This means if you are driving a small, full size or luxury car and you hit an SUV or a minivan...the rating doesn’t count (and it certainly doesn’t count if you happen to hit a tractor trailer...those crashes might change the star ratings).

5. Finally, the rating is only referring to injuries that require immediate hospitalization or are life-threatening.

How about rear-end crashes, what are the ratings for that? Well, here’s what the government says about that:

“NHTSA’s New Car Assessment Program has a limited budget and must
concentrate its ratings on front and side-impact crashes which every year are
responsible for the highest percentage of deaths and serious injuries.”

Here is a summary of the ratings we so proudly hold valuable...

For frontal crash ratings

	=	10 percent or less chance of serious injury
	=	11 percent to 20 percent chance of serious injury
	=	21 percent to 35 percent chance of serious injury
	=	36 percent to 45 percent chance of serious injury
	=	46 percent or greater chance of serious injury

For side crash ratings

	=	5 percent or less chance of serious injury
	=	6 percent to 10 percent chance of serious injury
	=	11 percent to 20 percent chance of serious injury
	=	21 percent to 25 percent chance of serious injury
	=	26 percent or greater chance of serious injury

...and here’s what this all means to you.

1) If you happen to be in a crash faster than 38.5 mph, forget about the rating scales altogether!

2) If you are a teen, child or infant sitting anywhere in the car, forget about the rating scale altogether!

3) If you hit any vehicle that is larger, smaller, or not almost exactly what you are driving, forget about the rating scale altogether!

4) If you are not wearing your seat belt, forget about the rating scale altogether!

5) If someone at the accident scene says “you look fine”, forget about the rating scale altogether!

6) If you happen to be driving a “5 Star Rated” vehicle at 32 mph, hit a car head-on exactly like yours and are
wearing your seat belt, according to the ratings you still have a 1 in 10 chance of being killed!

7) Lastly, if you are driving a “1 Star Rated” vehicle (I don’t know of any) and are in the same accident, you still have a 50-50 chance of surviving.

It seems that we have a rating system that sounds good, seems like a good measurement of safety, and should provide us with adequate information regarding the dangers of an accident. But for goodness sake, our rating systems barely work for restaurants and do nothing for the motion picture or record industry. How can we think, even for a moment, that it will save our life?

On one hand, airbags and seat belts have certainly saved people from serious injury. But on the other hand, the truth is we have created a “Star System” offering incredible false security; a means of telling ourselves that we are totally protected should we get into an accident, when in fact we are barely protected at best.   The truth is we are not driving around in a “bubble of airbag safety” by any means. Regardless of the safety rating of any vehicle we must drive as if our life depended on it! It does!!

Unibody construction, seat belts, side impact bars in our doors, front, side, knee airbags and curtains, shock absorbing bumpers and crumple zones are all good ideas. But we must be fundamentally aware that none of these safety items will save us if we are driving at normal highway speeds, and an oncoming vehicle crosses into our lane.

Driving on today’s roads, with speed limits up to 75 mph is a serious and life threatening event. We need to depend on ourselves, not on a rating system.

So the next time you hear about a “5 Star Rated” vehicle, ask yourself “How safe is that?”.

Source of information obtained from the following:

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration / Safercar.gov

Insurance Institute for Highway Safety

Dilemma

Blog Author — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 16:35:00 GMT

Recently, I was speaking to a body shop owner. He was frustrated with how the insurance appraiser was handling an estimate, specifically the times and rates he was allowing for airbag replacement. It seems this appraiser was not allowing these times to be charged at mechanical rate ($55/hr), even though the price guides specifically indicated (M) next to each of the times stated. The appraiser maintained that these were body repair times ($42/hr), while the shop owner maintained these were mechanical rates and times.

POINT (Insurance Appraiser)

Why should an insurance company pay out more money to the same body technician for working inside the car on accident related damages than he does working outside the car doing the same? Isn’t the sensor a body component? The same question can be asked about the airbags themselves. They are all listed parts within the body repair estimating guide. The labor times and rates in these estimating systems are only guides, not gospel.

Every insurance company makes its own decision regarding labor rates and times, database preferences and allowable exceptions to these rules. Like a consumer, the buyer (Insurance Company) is entitled to determine what price they are willing to pay and if the retailer (body shop) doesn’t want to sell their services for that rate, then they don’t have to accept the job. Competitive pricing is fair business.

COUNTERPOINT (Body Shop)

When a vehicle goes to the dealership to have the airbag system reset, it gets sent to the mechanical department, not the body shop. The insurance company has no problem paying a dealer the full mechanical rate ($89.40/hr) to clear the light and reset the system. The trained technicians at these dealerships are schooled in restraint systems and are in the mechanical half of the shop, and therefore are entitled to mechanical rates.

How can an independent body shop be expected to have the same skills and equipment as a dealership’s mechanical shop? If a body shop is expected to repair these systems in-house and have the scanners to reset them, then why can’t they get paid the same rate as a dealership? If the body repairmen are expected to do the same work as a factory trained tech, then why should a body shop receive a lower rate than a dealerships?

Resolution

Everyone has their own guideline in determining what to charge. Body shop owners and the insurance company policy makers are both entitled to their own opinions, but these discrepancies need to be worked out BEFORE the job is done, not after. The estimate from the insurance company indicates what they are willing to pay. Once a shop accepts it, (barring supplemental damages) they are agreeing to it and the terms within it. If the prices and times don’t match, then the job shouldn’t be started until they do.