Many people who are in car and non-commercial truck accidents are injured when the vehicle rolls over on top of them, producing crushing related injuries and loss. Rollover air bags operate just like side impact air bags. They offer crash protection, in the form of driver, passenger and rear seat passenger cushion that is meant to prevent fatalities and other tragic losses during an accident or rollover in a car or truck.
Rollover air bags are similar to side impact crash air bags, in that they are meant to protect the passenger and driver specifically during a rollover. The bags deploy to act as a curtain or buffer, during a rollover, for the heads of those people traveling in the vehicle.
When the vehicle begins to lose traction and starts to tip into a rollover, the sensor in the rollover airbags are triggered to deploy. They are keyed to the safety belt retractors (the way you feel them tighten your seatbelt if you slam on the brakes), and will take up the slack in the belt to hold the passengers close to the seat.
The rollover side airbags will deploy from the ceiling, next to the window to protect the passengers from hitting their heads on the windows. This is the typical placement of the airbags, since they are usually mounted in the roof rail next to the windows on the sides of the car. Oftentimes, the sensors are so sensitive to the movement of the vehicle, that they can anticipate when a rollover is just about to occur. This is true even when the angle of the roll is very slight, and the wheels have not even left the ground to officially start “rolling over.”
Once the rollover air bags are inflated, they will stay that way to protect the heads of the car or truck passengers from injury. These airbags also work to protect the occupants of the car or truck so that they are not ejected from the vehicle during the rollover itself. This is assuming that all members traveling in the car are wearing seat belts. If the people in the vehicle are not protected with a seat belt, they will be at risk of being ejected from the vehicle through a window or a door, during a rollover incident.
It is imperative to mention that drivers and passengers in cars and trucks need to wear their seat belts at all times while in vehicles traveling on our nation’s roads and highways. This is because most of the people, who are killed in rollover accidents, are killed because they were not wearing these common and available seat belts.
Everyone has a story where they have heard of the one accident where a person was wearing a seat belt and died anyway. This is a harsh reality, but there may be one instance out of hundreds of thousands of instances where that fact may be verified. The truth is, most people are in the larger percentage who will be saved by always wearing a seatbelt. It is the law in most states to “buckle up” and it is one way help people in your vehicle arrive at their destination safely.
As to the curtain airbags, they are a good start. The auto manufactures need to improve the crush factor the the frame…..as no matter how great an air bag…..if the roof crushes down upon the driver….severe injury is almost certain.
