Are Side Curtain Airbags Safe for Children?

If your car has side curtain airbags, you might have concerns about placing him -- whether he's still in a car seat or booster or old enough to use the regular seat belt -- next to it. You know not to put children in the front seat near a frontal airbag, but manufacturers don't talk much about curtain airbags. In most cases, sitting next to a curtain airbag poses no risk to your child and can help protect him from injury upon impact, as well as from flying glass.

  1. What They Are

    • Most people have seen pictures of a frontal airbag inflating and deflating, but you might be completely unfamiliar with curtain airbags. These airbags, first introduced in 2002, according to the the International Research Council on Biomechanics of Injury, fall from above the side windows in a crash, covering the windows like a curtain -- hence their name. Like frontal airbags, they inflate, looking like a curtain as they fall, usually covering both the front and backseat windows. Many cars manufactured after 2004 have curtain side airbags, but in 2013 they're not yet mandatory on all new vehicles. In 2008, around 30 percent of all new cars had curtain airbags, the IRCBI reports.

    How They Work

    • Curtain airbags protect your head in a side crash, covering the side with a pillow-like material that takes longer than frontal airbags to deflate -- around 6 seconds, according to a JD Powers article. This provides additional protection in a rollover crash. The cushioning helps reduce the risk of brain injury, the cause of 60 percent of deaths in side impact crashes, according to the safercar.gov website. Because they cover the windows, the airbags also prevent injury from flying glass.

    Car Seat Positioning

    • Car seat manufacturers often don't address curtain airbag and car seat positioning directly. Many state that children should not sit near any active airbags. However, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration determined that side airbags pose no additional risk to children compared to car without the bags. Read both your vehicle's safety manual as well as the car seat manual to determine whether you should seat your child next to an active airbag or turn it off, the Car Seat Lady recommends.

    Considerations

    • Side airbags reduce the risk of death from head injury. An Insurance Institute for Highway Safety study published in the June 2007 issue of "Traffic Injury Protection" found that side airbags designed to protect the head cut the risk of death by 37 percent in cars and 52 percent in SUVs. Only one child injury has been reported from a side airbag, the Car Seat Lady website details. The 3-year-old was sitting unrestrained in the front seat at the time and sustained only minor facial lacerations from the airbag. The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia recommends not letting children lean their head against the door or window, in the event that the airbag deploys. Although curtain airbags inflate with less force than front airbags, injuries could occur.

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