I'm under 5 ft thankyouverymuch, and will start driving(by myself)in 6 months, and I don't think I will grow 3" before then. My 323 doesn't have airbags, I and feel that it's a good thing. If I hit anything(not likely, I'm better than that)I don't want an airbag going off and causeing a bigger wreck/injuries.
and here:
Since 1990, 202 deaths reportedly have been caused by airbags inflating in low severity crashes. These deaths include 68 drivers, 8 adult passengers (a belted 98-year-old female, an unbelted 88-year-old female, an unbelted 85-year-old male, an unbelted 79-year-old female, an unbelted 57-year-old male, an unbelted 66-year-old female, a belted 64-year-old female, and an unbelted 22-year-old female), 104 children between the ages of 1 and 11, and 22 infants (13 restrained in rear-facing infant seats, 4 in rear-facing restraints on laps, 4 not properly secured in rear-facing restraints and 1 unknown if properly restrained).
Of the 104 children killed by passenger airbags, 84 are believed to have been unbelted; 12 are believed to have been using lap belts only; 1 had shoulder belt under right arm; 1 was sharing a lap belt with right front passenger and 5 were thought to be using lap/shoulder belts. Belt use is unknown for the other child. Almost all crashes involved pre-impact braking and/or children sitting on front passenger laps, so that the children were close to the instrument panel at the time of deployment.
Of the 68 drivers killed by airbags (54 females, 14 males), 44 are believed to have been unbelted, 23 are believed to have been using lap/shoulder belts (5 of these may have misused their belts, 2 of these were unconscious and slumped over their steering wheels so they were on top of their airbags, 2 used the shoulder belt only; 1 used the lap belt only). Belt use is unknown for the other driver.
and then all of the people with injuries. I think a belt is enough. I've been in a rather serious accident(delivery van hit us head on at 40mph or so, we were stoped, my side of the front(passenger side) was hit first, I watched the hood go up, it bent the frame in the front against the engine and we did a full 360 in the middle of the street. Now I don't know about you but that's a bad accident. It can be compared to the off-set crash tests that the Highway Safty(insurence people) do. If there was seat belt I would have been injured more than I was(all I had was seat belt bruises, as opposed to the airbag burns, possible broken nose, among other stuff).
Now if you're blazing down the highway and cross over to the other lanes then an airbag might work better than just a seat belt. I see minimal, if not no need for airbags.
The switches would help people who don't like airbags...
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I just checked and it has 2 rear side airbags as well...
It turns out that there's actually 8...
