Today, every car on the market comes with airbags. They’re a mandatory requirement for new automobiles in the US market and have been since September 1st, 1998. But they’re not mandatory for you!
That is, you don’t need to have airbags in your own car. It’s perfectly legal to drive around in a car without them. This is obvious, given that many vehicles built prior to 1998 are still on the roads.
My question for you is this—are airbags something you consider mandatory, like seatbelts or breathable oxygen? Or are you happy to go without them?
I know a great many people that are perfectly happy to ride around in old cars without airbags. Indeed, most of the vehicles I’ve owned never had them. It wasn’t until 2012, when I bought a 1999 Ford Falcon, that I regularly drove around in a vehicle with airbags.
However, this question isn’t as simple as it might immediately appear. Most of us wouldn’t hesitate to ride in a friend’s classic car that never had airbags in its life. But what about a modern car with no airbags fitted? Or airbags that were non-operational?
I feel confident in saying that most of us dig older cars. We wouldn’t freak out if our pals pulled up in a 1972 Chevy Malibu or a 1989 Oldsmobile Toronado. We’d think that was damn cool. We wouldn’t freak out that it was too dangerous because it lacked airbags.
In contrast, if you got in an Uber with the airbag light glowing in the dash, would you do a second take? Would you get out and wait for another, or would you pay it no mind?
I think for a lot of people, the idea of a malfunctioning or non-operable airbag is scarier than a car that had none at all. Back in the day, airbags had a bad rap for taking more lives than they saved. That’s absolutely no longer the case, but it’s easy to get wary around these quite literally explosive safety devices. Recent debacles like the Takata scandal have done nothing to ease community concerns.
So I ask in the fullness of the question—would you drive a car with no airbags, modern or classic? Or do you demand that the safety equipment is fully operational before you head out on the road?
Top image: Alfa Romeo
Story images: Renault, Lewin Day
I daily drive a car with no airbag during the summer
Of course. The idea that airbags=safe and no airbags=unsafe is a false dichotomy. Risk exists on a spectrum, and we each have to decide what risk profile is acceptable. There’s no way I’m driving around without 3 point seatbelts though. Three point belts at each seating position is easy shorthand for “safe enough” for my purposes.
“Back in the day, airbags had a bad rap for taking more lives than they saved” This statement is perpetuating a falsehood. Older airbags deployed with a higher force so around 290 mostly unbelted children and infants were estimated to be killed between 1990 and 2008. You were nearly twice as likely to be killed by lightning (28 per year) during that time than an airbag. 300 people over 18 years is a tiny number compared to how many people are killed in traffic accidents (40,000+ per year). Airbags have saved over 50,000 lives in the US alone! https://www.consumerreports.org/cars/car-safety/50-years-of-airbag-safety-and-challenges-a9994439273/#:~:text=Early%20airbags%20saved%20lives%2C%20but,in%20the%20front%2Dpassenger%20seat.
I drive myself and have my kids ride in my MGB (one at a time or course), so yes. I do have 4 point seat belts in it, but mostly to keep my head from hitting something hard. I wouldn’t buy something modern without working airbags though, and if the airbags were broken I’d get them fixed.
Agreed, any modern car I own needs to have functional safety equipment, but my kids absolutely love my old Lotus so we take it as often as we can.
I’m well aware that there are risks associated with taking my kids in an older car, but life is full of risks, and this is an acceptable risk level for me.
Airbags sure, seatbelts not so much. So long as the wheel itself was nicely padded and handle fairly deformable I’d be comfortable.
The first S in SRS airbags is “Supplemental”, meaning the heavy lifter should always be the seatbelt.
Consider a spectacular Nascar or Formula One crash where the driver gets out “and he’s ok!”, no airbags used, just a very nice harness and roll cage and body pieces that fly off taking kinetic energy with them.
mid 70s and earlier cars I think are fairly deathtraps, but the 80s they started getting some crumply zones so I feel like a mid-80s car with a 3 point belt I’d be ok with.
For a daily driver, that I’m commuting in? I want the airbags. If the car is being an appliance, then it should be safe. Especially if my family are going to be in it.
For a fun weekend car, that’s only used occasionally, then it’s not so much of an issue. Of course, if it’s a newer car that had airbags from the factory, then I’d want them operational. No point being risky for the sake of it. But I’d perfectly happily drive an old pre-airbag car as a classic.
Yes, We have become so risk adverse in our society that we have caused much of the issues we complain about. Why are cars so expensive? One reason is that they are so safe. People will say, “You can’t put a price on safety”, but we do. All of the time. Our houses do not have bullet proof glass normally. Why, because we think the risk of getting shot in our home does not justify the added expense. I think auto safety has been overblown. We do not need lane assist, braking assist, etc. If you want to pay extra for those, go for it. I would like the option to purchase a less expensive car and take the risk, personally.
My 3 daily drivers have one measly airbag among them. So, yes.
I don’t require airbags to be happy in a car personally – I’ve spent many a trip in such wonderfully safe cars as a 1984 Fiero and a 1974 Beetle – but a modern car with deployed airbags is probably a no. The image I have in my head is one of a car taken out of a junkyard without legal plates, missing bumper or bumpers, cardboard for windows, and deployed airbags, which is a disturbingly common sight in my part of Portland, OR. There’s a difference between “this car is unsafe but, like, really not anymore than it was when AMC crapped it out in 1978” versus “this car is unsafe because it has been crashed and really should not be on the road”
Honestly, it depends on *why* there’s no airbags.
No airbags because they were Takata claymores and the owner disabled them until they could get a replacement? Or, a track/race car that has to have them removed as part of the technical regulations of the series? Sure.
No airbags because the car was in a crash that blew them, and they weren’t repaired properly? That’s when I start to get sketched out, because if the bags weren’t replaced, what else wasn’t fixed properly?
Don’t care about air bags. My preference is in restraint systems. If air bags are so great why does the sanctioning body for my race series force me to remove them. Come to think of it I don’t think a single vehicle built for competition has airbags.
Do you really not know why?
Because restraints are superior.
So, you don’t know why then.
Well, I love 90s Japanese cars and owned a 58 Bel Air and 67 Mustang so…yes
I mean, my ’81 Z28 doesn’t have any so…yes, apparently?
I would love to see The Autopian research the safety of old airbags. Plenty of cool older cars still on the road that are over 30 years old and have their original driver’s side airbag. I’ve owned a ’91 BMW that I recently sold to a buddy and always wondered if between being early airbag tech and the age if it would be safer going to an airbagless steering wheel in 2024?
Yeah, I always wonder if my airbag made in 1987 still works at all. And obviously I don’t want to find out.
Right, and especially in light of the Takata fiasco it really makes you wonder-not to mention that early airbag tech was pretty suspect anyways.
Never owned a car with airbags, so I’m fine without them. I’m good with seatbelts because I’ve survived several serious accidents (both as driver and passenger, though not at the same time) with nothing but belts and, as far as I know, no seatbelts have ever accidentally deployed and killed anyone, which you can’t say about airbags. Maybe one of those annoying auto engaging shoulder straps they stuffed in some cars for awhile strangled someone, but I don’t think so. It would not bother me at all if a new car didn’t have them, though I would be annoyed if it were supposed to have them and I kept getting an error light because of some malfunction. Luckily, I’m not the worrisome type because I’d hate to drive around just wondering if my airbags were going to explode in my face for no reason.
On an old car, obviously, but I’d sign waivers on a new car to ditch them if it meant getting some real steering feel, but it’s the damn EPAS that’s the biggest problem there. I’ve been ready to die since I was in the single digits and expected I’d have long been killed by now, so at this point, I’m willing to give up all safety to ditch the nannies, shitty e-throttles, and EPAS to enjoy what time’s left and not be annoyed.
If I would save a thousand dollars I’d buy a car without airbags. For us old folks we grew up without them. I’ve never been in an accident where they deployed. I take it on faith that my newer cars even have airbags. So no airbags no problem
I guarantee any savings would be more than offset by your insurance premium.
Not when you only buy state minimum coverage. But interesting point airbags and insurance two things you buy hoping you never need them.
Fuck yes. The good cars never came with airbags anyway.
I drove my son’s 2004 WRX (with the airbag warning lamp on) all over some winding mountain roads last Saturday. So, yes.
Yes on both accounts. Currently I own a car built pre-airbags and have no problems driving it. On my old Miata, I removed the factory steering wheel to replace it with an aftermarket non-aribag wheel because I liked how it looked. I fully understood the risks associated with what I was doing but it was a risk I was personally alright with taking.
A car with airbags isn’t necessarily more safe.
Example: My Astro has 2 airbags but it’s still a deathtrap if you get into an accident.
Meanwhile some older cars like 70s/80s yachts with no airbags will probably be relatively safe if they have shoulder belts, due to how much hood is in front of you.
70s and 80s Land Yachts aren’t the same sorts of death traps as an Astro, but they have other safety deficiencies.
You’re getting hunt up on my examples. Insert anything else you can think of that is safe but older, ex: volvo 240s, etc
My point is some cars WITHOUT airbags are safer than some cars WITH airbags.
I have a 91′ Cherokee XJ with no airbags that was my daily before having children. I love it, but I do not drive my very young children in it and I am considering giving it up due to the lack of safety features all around. If I can prevent an accident or serious injury from an accident with ABS or traction control or airbags then it seems like a no brainer. Kids certainly changed my calculus.
A classic? Sure, of course, I do it all the time! A modern Car? Sure, of course, I do it all the time as part of my job. If the customer doesn’t authorize it, we don’t fix it. If it were my own modern car with an airbag light, I would probably fix it, but I wouldn’t feel that uncomfortable driving around before the repair. I notoriously lack a sense of self-preservation, so it’s fine.
The only reason they’re there is for doofs who don’t wear seat belts, right?
I remember years ago I hit a deer up in Minnesota. The steering-wheel airbag deployed, but none of the others. The radiator was okay and the lights were mostly shining on the road, so I pressed on, about 600 miles to home.
The next day, I called State Farm to report it. I was directed to a body shop about 4 miles away. The rep was VERY concerned about me driving a car with no airbag, as if it was driving with brakes on only one wheel or something like that.
Here’s the kicker- this VERY YOUNG call rep could not be convinced that before the late ’80’s no car had airbags. Kind of like when some young dope thinks the Internet has been around since Jesus times.
A few cars had airbags before then. GM sold about 10,000 cars equipped with its optional Air Cushion Restraint System in the mid-’70s.
I definitely have no issue driving a car w/o airbags. I’m fairly suspect of any 15+ year old airbag anyway. Relying heavily on old, unserviced electronics AND chemicals is foolhardy.
My views might be tainted though. The last time I was in an accident, I was t-boned at a 4-way stop in 1994. Surprise, no airbags.