Car safety technology has come a long way since the days of Henry Ford and his Model T. One of the features that will prove invaluable in your Boston car rental is the airbags. However, airbags are a double edged sword: they can save your life, or if you are aligned in your car improperly, they can injure you. Make no mistake; air bags are not like the teddy bear you used to cuddle before you went to sleep as a child. They are tough enough to protect you from an accident. So keep that in mind and set up your Boston car rental to make the airbags your friends and not your enemies.
Airbag Technology in Your Boston Car Rental
Airbags are designed to detect sudden deceleration. When the sensor that detects this activates, it starts a chemical propellant that produces nitrogen gas, which will in turn inflate the airbag. This sounds like a long process, but it actually takes only one-twentieth of a second.
However, this does not mean that your Boston car rental will deploy its airbags when you slam on your brakes to avoid an accident. The airbag sensor will only send a signal when the deceleration of your vehicle meets a minimum threshold. In some low-speed collisions, a seat belt is all you need. When the speeds get higher, the seat belt may not be enough and that’s where your airbag comes in handy.
It is worth noting that airbags are intended to prevent your head from hitting the dashboard and are designed to deploy in frontal crashes. They generally do not work in rear-end collisions, side impacts, or rollovers.
How Airbags Can Do More Harm than Good
Airbags deploy very fast and with a lot of force. As said earlier, the force can be used for good or evil. Typically if they cause injury, it’s a minor one, such as a bruise. Sometimes it’s a bit more painful, such as a broken bone. Depending on the location of you in relation to the airbag at the time of its deployment, the injury can be fatal. Here are some of the following ways you can injure yourself on the airbag in your Boston car rental:
- Sitting too close to the steering wheel.
- Sitting a child under the age of 12 in the front seat.
- A child standing or sitting near the dashboard.
- Using a rearward-facing infant restraint system in the front seat.
- Sitting with your legs on the dashboard.
How to Protect Yourself
The first and most obvious thing you can do is to wear your seatbelt. That is your number one defence against injury in your Boston car rental.
Wearing a seatbelt though, is not enough. You need to wear it properly. Place the lap belt low over the hips – not across your abdomen. While it may be more comfortable to wear the shoulder belt behind your shoulder, make sure it lies along the chest and over your shoulder.
Keep yourself bruise-free by not sitting too close to the airbag. Give it more room to deploy by moving your seat back. However, you should still be able to reach the pedal with your foot, see over the dashboard, and maneuver the steering wheel comfortably.
As always, keep any children under the age of 12 in the back seat. They are smaller so the airbag could conceivably hit them in the head when it deploys. Also, do not place the shoulder strap of a seat belt behind the child’s neck or under their arm.
Keep yourself and your loved ones safe during your trip. Contact VERC Rentals if you have any questions about the safety in your Boston car rental.
Tags: Boston car rental
