tjsmedley@watmum.UUCP (Trevor J. Smedley) (01/21/86)
O.K. So we've all been reading stuff about airbags now for God knows how long. It's about time we had a summary of the arguments so far. pro: They'll save your life in certain situations. con: A seatbelt is enough. pro: No it isn't. con: They cost money. pro: It's worth it. con: They'll go off when I don't want them to and cause an accident. pro: No they won't. con: A car with airbags won't have seatbelts. pro: Yes it will. I am, at the moment, neither pro nor con for the simple reason that I am not properly informed on the subject. All the "Yes it is! - No it isn't!" type discussion will never convince me in either direction. What would convince me is a published study by some independent firm on such things as reliability, effectiveness, ... I would like to propose that any further discussion on the topic of airbags be limited to references (and possibly quotes) from published material on the subject. I am afraid of net.auto disappearing because of the high volume and redundancy. Trevor J. Smedley University of Waterloo {decvax,allegra,ihnp4,clyde,utzoo}!watmum!tjsmedley
john@gcc-milo.ARPA (John Allred) (01/23/86)
In article <370@watmum.UUCP> tjsmedley@watmum.UUCP (Trevor J. Smedley) writes: >O.K. So we've all been reading stuff about airbags now for God knows >how long. It's about time we had a summary of the arguments so far. I'd like to, uh, "improve" the summary. >pro: They'll save your life in certain situations. > >con: A seatbelt is enough. Not quite. I think the net has conceded that seatbelts will save your life in *more* situations. >pro: No it isn't. Translated: what do we do about the idiots who don't buckle up. I (or anyone else) don't like paying their medicals bills (via insurance.) >con: They'll go off when I don't want them to and cause an accident. > >pro: No they won't. A point that is totally up for grabs. >con: A car with airbags won't have seatbelts. > >pro: Yes it will. From what I remember reading, airbagged cars will have lap belts, but will not have shoulder belts. -- John Allred General Computer Company uucp: seismo!harvard!gcc-milo!john