Anyone add the Rear Side Airbags?

[|FYASKO|]

Has anyone added the rear side airbags from the options list? Debating on if I should add it or not. Dealer is telling me not to because it could kill and a baby if there was one to be back there as well as potentially affect resale?? I am thinking of adding them because I dont put babies in my back seat and extra airbags wouldn't be too bad? Anyone add this option in or why they went with or against it?

[riegeraudi]

I added the option as side airbags have proven to prevent head injuries in an accident. Might want to look this up. I recalled this from a news like nightline or something like that but you may want to make sure yourselft.

[NWS4Guy]

I was going to for safety as well, I have a almost 2 year old, and they said DO NOT use with children, especially in carseats, so I unchecked it.

[DeanMTL]

I was told it'll kill a kid in the backseat if it goes off - I think it's even off the option list for 2011 if I'm not mistaken...

[kapikog]

I was going to for safety as well, I have a almost 2 year old, and they said DO NOT use with children, especially in carseats, so I unchecked it.

X2

[L0U]

A large part of S4 owners have 2 boosters in the back. No rear air bags here for me either.

[kutsyy]

I added airbags (and I have 2 kids on the back, but no boosters). Kids are too short for curtain airbag been useful, so I am looking at rear door airbags as the only thing helping in rollover/side crash.

Discussion about airbags reminds me discussion about seat belts (i.e. seat belt can kill you so don't use it).

[Tifosi]

Keep in mind that these cars comes with rear curtain airbags already. The side airbags are different from the curtain airbags. The side airbags are installed on the outside of the rear seats, just like the front seats. Most baby/child seats are wide and sits over the air bags, so when the air bags are deployeed, they will push up against the baby/child seats thus causing significant injuries to the baby/child. Therefore, unless the buyer is 100% sure that they will never have young passangers, I would advise against them like the others here. Plus, IMO, this may actually be an option that will drop the re-sale value of the car as it is not a feature for everyone, especially young families.

[Twowheelsgood]

I passed on the rear bags. No kids and I figure if I'm going down I want to take my passengers with me.

[Sandy S]

My car has a back seat? :-)

[SteveR]

NHTSA has publicly stated that these airbags should not cause harm to occupants, regardless of their age, size and seating position — regardless of whether they are properly restrained.

There are 15 different tests that cover every type of airbag in every possible location within a vehicle. Tests are conducted with dummies that represent the average-size 3-year-old and 6-year-old child, as well as the 5th-percentile female dummy. The thinking is that if an airbag will not harm a child or small adult female, it's also safe for larger adults.

Currently, side airbags are generally not considered a risk to children in correctly used child restraints. In fact, children in properly installed and used child restraints should gain a safety benefit from side impact airbags unless otherwise indicated in an owner's manual. A possible risk is to child passengers seated out of position; leaning on the door, face on the window, head sleeping on a pillar, etc. This would be most relevant to children in boosters who are not seated properly, and to children not using any type of seatbelt or restraint. Side curtain airbags should be even less risk, as they are higher and inflate with somewhat less force. In general, it should be OK to place a child in a harnessed carseat (front or rear facing) in a rear seat position with an active side airbag, as long as the owner's manuals for the carseat and vehicle do not prohibit such placement. Automakers have agreed to a rigorous set of testing procedures based on voluntary compliance to standards established in a working group chaired by the IIHS These standards include tests of all types of side airbags with 3yr, 6yr, and 5th percentile female dummies in a variety of normal and extreme seating positions.

In newer model cars in collisions with other vehicles, there's now a higher proportion of deaths in side-impact crashes than in frontal ones." In 2007, 8,225 people died in side-impact crashes, accounting for 28 percent of all vehicle crash fatalities.

Mercedes-Benz feels so strongly about the benefits of side airbags that they are standard for both front and rear passengers in most of its vehicles. "Rear-seat torso-type airbags are designed to protect the chest area of adult occupants, but they do have the potential to offer some protection to children, because they are usually at a height that would be roughly equivalent to a child's head or shoulders," says the IIHS' Rader.

I clipped those from several articles on side air bags. The general consensus is that since the new testing standards in 2002-3, side bags are safe and offer protection in many side impact situations, even for children. The exception is if the child is not properly seated. To wit:

"If you've got an unbelted child standing up on the seat looking out the back window and that vehicle is in a crash, the side air bag might be the least of that child's concerns," says Ford spokeswoman Maria Sheler-Edwards.

I have a 7 year old and ordered them in mine.

[PhilH]

I clipped those from several articles on side air bags. The general consesus is that since the new testing standards in 2002-3, side bags are safe and offer protection in many side impact situations, even for children. The exception is if the child is not properly seated.

Thanks for the info.

[NWS4Guy]

One child, and I use the inner 2 Latch hooks from each side rear seat so her seat is in the center. This lets he watch movies, me to see her easily in the rear mirror and since I cannot forecast which side an impact might come from, she is safer than I an being in the center of the car.

Either way, good to know these are not as harmful as Audi apparently is telling their dealerships they are.

[Tifosi]

NHTSA has publicly stated that these airbags should not cause harm to occupants, regardless of their age, size and seating position — regardless of whether they are properly restrained.

There are 15 different tests that cover every type of airbag in every possible location within a vehicle. Tests are conducted with dummies that represent the average-size 3-year-old and 6-year-old child, as well as the 5th-percentile female dummy. The thinking is that if an airbag will not harm a child or small adult female, it's also safe for larger adults.

Currently, side airbags are generally not considered a risk to children in correctly used child restraints. In fact, children in properly installed and used child restraints should gain a safety benefit from side impact airbags unless otherwise indicated in an owner's manual. A possible risk is to child passengers seated out of position; leaning on the door, face on the window, head sleeping on a pillar, etc. This would be most relevant to children in boosters who are not seated properly, and to children not using any type of seatbelt or restraint. Side curtain airbags should be even less risk, as they are higher and inflate with somewhat less force. In general, it should be OK to place a child in a harnessed carseat (front or rear facing) in a rear seat position with an active side airbag, as long as the owner's manuals for the carseat and vehicle do not prohibit such placement. Automakers have agreed to a rigorous set of testing procedures based on voluntary compliance to standards established in a working group chaired by the IIHS These standards include tests of all types of side airbags with 3yr, 6yr, and 5th percentile female dummies in a variety of normal and extreme seating positions.

In newer model cars in collisions with other vehicles, there's now a higher proportion of deaths in side-impact crashes than in frontal ones." In 2007, 8,225 people died in side-impact crashes, accounting for 28 percent of all vehicle crash fatalities.

Mercedes-Benz feels so strongly about the benefits of side airbags that they are standard for both front and rear passengers in most of its vehicles. "Rear-seat torso-type airbags are designed to protect the chest area of adult occupants, but they do have the potential to offer some protection to children, because they are usually at a height that would be roughly equivalent to a child's head or shoulders," says the IIHS' Rader.

I clipped those from several articles on side air bags. The general consesus is that since the new testing standards in 2002-3, side bags are safe and offer protection in many side impact situations, even for children. The exception is if the child is not properly seated. To wit:

"If you've got an unbelted child standing up on the seat looking out the back window and that vehicle is in a crash, the side air bag might be the least of that child's concerns," says Ford spokeswoman Maria Sheler-Edwards.

I have a 7 year old and ordered them in mine.

1) What does the Owner's manual say about the side airbags ? Does it say anything about them at all in there ?

2) I am curious to know if they are referring to the curtin airbags or the actual side airbages like the ones on the S4s. Had I not ask my SA about them when I was shopping for a new car, I would not have known that they are two different devices.

[SteveR]

All of the sections I quoted were about side air bags. All they said about curtain air bags were that they were too high to be relevant to children.

Your point about the manual is a decent one, and I don't have a B8 manual to check. However, it seems pretty unlikely that Audi hasn't figured out how to make side airbags safe while Benz, BMW, Ford, etc. all stand by theirs. One other stat I did not quote was that there is only one recorded injury thought to be related to side air bags to date. I am satified that the concerns some have about them are overhyped and outdated.

[uberartist]

I was told it'll kill a kid in the backseat if it goes off

Who told you this? This is just another thing where there is no quotable source, other than a long chain that didn't start with actual facts. Just like front airbags can kill you, the benefits of having them outweigh the downsides. That said, you should always sit properly in the car--for example, don't have feet up on the dash if you are the passenger, don't sit too close to the steering wheel if you are the driver, etc.

I don't mean to come off too strong, but stating things like that enough makes them become false facts. If you heard that "a kid was killed by an airbag " and then that morphs into "it'll kill a kid in the backseat", those are two very different statements. Just riding in a car is a calculated risk, so to have a 50% increased change to avoid being killed due to the airbag, with a >1% chance of being killed by that same airbag, I'll take the airbag.

[s-4man]

the only option I did not get.

[UmIsThisThingOn]

One child, and I use the inner 2 Latch hooks from each side rear seat so her seat is in the center.

This is my plan for when my son arrives.

1) What does the Owner's manual say about the side airbags ? Does it say anything about them at all in there ?

2) I am curious to know if they are referring to the curtin airbags or the actual side airbages like the ones on the B8s. Had I not ask my SA about them when I was shopping for a new car, I would not have known that they are two different devices.

Fixed.