https://www.iihs.org/news/detail/iihs-researchers-find-little-benefit-from-knee-airbags
No knee airbag? No problem, according to a recent IIHS study. The study, which analyzed results of over 400 crash tests as well as real world crashes in 14 states, found that knee airbags don't provide much effect on injury risk, at least for seat-belted occupants. In crash tests, some injury measures averaged more severe and some less, but in all cases, the effects were minor. In the real world, they did not reduce injury risk by a statistically significant amount.
One reason that knee airbags have been installed has been to help vehicles pass Federal unbelted crash tests. Judging by the large amount of vehicles that have passed these same tests without a problem without knee airbags, are they really necessary?
What will this mean for knee airbags in the future? With ever price-conscious consumers and ever-increasing fuel economy standards, I predict that knee airbags will become less common in the 2020s and may even die out almost completely. Who wants to pay for an airbag that's been proven as basically useless? Not to mention, with automakers looking to shave unnecessary weight to get better fuel economy out of their vehicles, knee airbags look to be a good thing to get rid of.
No knee airbag? No problem, according to a recent IIHS study. The study, which analyzed results of over 400 crash tests as well as real world crashes in 14 states, found that knee airbags don't provide much effect on injury risk, at least for seat-belted occupants. In crash tests, some injury measures averaged more severe and some less, but in all cases, the effects were minor. In the real world, they did not reduce injury risk by a statistically significant amount.
One reason that knee airbags have been installed has been to help vehicles pass Federal unbelted crash tests. Judging by the large amount of vehicles that have passed these same tests without a problem without knee airbags, are they really necessary?
What will this mean for knee airbags in the future? With ever price-conscious consumers and ever-increasing fuel economy standards, I predict that knee airbags will become less common in the 2020s and may even die out almost completely. Who wants to pay for an airbag that's been proven as basically useless? Not to mention, with automakers looking to shave unnecessary weight to get better fuel economy out of their vehicles, knee airbags look to be a good thing to get rid of.
Comments
Post a Comment