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About 10,000 vehicle passengers die each year
in side impacts accidents, and head injuries
are a leading cause of death. Side airbags designed
specifically to protect the head can reduce such deaths
and the head injuries that occur in side impacts.
A side impact, or T-bone, most often happens
at intersections when one car turns into the lane of
another. When another vehicle comes barreling
into you from the side, it is the deadliest place you
can be in a car. Unlike a head-on crash, where you are
protected by several feet of steel, engine and bumper,
if you're hit from the side, all you have between
you and the other vehicle is a few inches of door and some
window glass.
All vehicles on the road today have to pass
the government's side impact standard, but many people
feel these standards are outdated. The government
uses a dummy representing an average size male that
doesn't register head injuries, and its test only looks
at what happens when similar size vehicles collide.
Manufacturers need to start making side impact airbags
that protect the head standard in all vehicles. And
in some cases, they also need to beef up their side
structure to resist intrusion in these kinds of crashes.
Car makers have announced new “voluntary”
side impact protection guidelines to go into effect
by September 2007. And the National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration says it is working on a tougher
standard for side impact crashes. But that standard
will not require side airbags, even though studies show
hundreds of lives could be saved each year with those
devices.
If you were injured in a side
impact collision accident, contact our accident lawyers
for a free, confidential case evaluation. Our experienced
attorneys will evaluate the specifics of your collision
and determine whether your vehicle was substandard.
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