Why don't cars have rear airbags?

[livinginasia]

Often wondered this. With all the side, curtain and other airbags, why don't manufacturers put them in the back of the front seats so rear passengers don't smash their heads into the seats in a collision. Have Volvo and other safety conscious manufacturers not thought of this? Or is there a reason that it can't be done? Regs not demanding it maybe ? Any thoughts?

[Davie]

I would assume it's because the rear seats are where the little people sit and children + airbags rarely end well.

[mikefacel]

I presume it's because there's a squishy human in the front seat. The substantial force of the airbag going off behind them has to go somewhere - it's usually into something rigid/sacrificial such the dash/doors/roof, but would do a lot of damage into the back of someone.

[livinginasia]

Yes, both suggestions make sense. You would think you could turn them off as you can do for front seat ones, if the back is only for little people (or they only trigger if the weight over X kgs, and you would think that a front seat could be made strong enough to dissipate the force of the bag going off? Or they could come downwards from the ceiling like a curtain side bag maybe ?

[Davie]

livinginasia said:

You would think you could turn them off as you can do for front seat ones, if the back is only for little people (or they only trigger if the weight over X kgs,

Half the nuggets in this country can't even strap their kids in properly never mind remember to disable airbags... and as for relying on the car to figure it out based on weight, that's a massive court case waiting to happen as there are too many variables. Ultimately airbags and kids don't mix so it's probably safer to not have them. Plus in a front impact, it's generally the rear of the front seats a teenager / adult would hit which is probably much more survivable than what you hit in the front seats... and any children that aren't big enough for a three point belt should be in a car seat and again, cars seats and airbags don't mix well.

[BrassMan]

livinginasia said:

Often wondered this. With all the side, curtain and other airbags, why don't manufacturers put them in the back of the front seats so rear passengers don't smash their heads into the seats in a collision. Have Volvo and other safety conscious manufacturers not thought of this? Or is there a reason that it can't be done? Regs not demanding it maybe ? Any thoughts?

Because it would fire the driver straight into the front one?
Because there's much more space before something solid?

[livinginasia]

It was a fifth gear clip of front vs rear occupants safely in a frontal crash at 50mph which made me think of it again, worth a google as it was quite interesting.

[anonymous-user]

The E39 5 series bmw has rear curtains airbags and airbags in the rear doors, they do exist.

[The Moose]

Rather than being in the seats, they could be in the roof and fire vertically downwards. I think this could well get around the kids+airbags general issue and I’m sure a roof could be sufficiently strong to withstand the airbag going off?

[kambites]

Ford (and possibly others) fit airbags into the rear seatbelts of some cars.

[anonymous-user]

The Moose said:

Rather than being in the seats, they could be in the roof and fire vertically downwards. I think this could well get around the kids+airbags general issue and I’m sure a roof could be sufficiently strong to withstand the airbag going off?

Thats what curtain airbags are, common on Volkswagen passat, golf, 5 series bmw...

[SWoll]

AlrightYouns said:

The Moose said:

Rather than being in the seats, they could be in the roof and fire vertically downwards. I think this could well get around the kids+airbags general issue and I’m sure a roof could be sufficiently strong to withstand the airbag going off?

Thats what curtain airbags are, common on Volkswagen passat, golf, 5 series bmw...

Curtain airbags fire from the top of the doors covering the side windows and only go off in side impact.

[anonymous-user]

SWoll said:

AlrightYouns said:

The Moose said:

Rather than being in the seats, they could be in the roof and fire vertically downwards. I think this could well get around the kids+airbags general issue and I’m sure a roof could be sufficiently strong to withstand the airbag going off?

Thats what curtain airbags are, common on Volkswagen passat, golf, 5 series bmw...

Curtain airbags fire from the top of the doors covering the side windows and only go off in side impact.

That curtain airbag is in the rear, no?

[SWoll]

AlrightYouns said:

SWoll said:

AlrightYouns said:

The Moose said:

Rather than being in the seats, they could be in the roof and fire vertically downwards. I think this could well get around the kids+airbags general issue and I’m sure a roof could be sufficiently strong to withstand the airbag going off?

Thats what curtain airbags are, common on Volkswagen passat, golf, 5 series bmw...

Curtain airbags fire from the top of the doors covering the side windows and only go off in side impact.

That curtain airbag is in the rear, no?

Well spotted. It doesn't fire down from the roof directly in front of the rear seat passenger to protect them from the back of the seat in a frontal impact as per the discussion though?

[livinginasia]

Swoll, quite correct, thank you. This discussion was around front impact and not side, to stop you head butting the back of the front seats. It does seem weird that no one does it. Time to file a patent possibly :-)

[The Moose]

SWoll said:

AlrightYouns said:

SWoll said:

AlrightYouns said:

The Moose said:

Rather than being in the seats, they could be in the roof and fire vertically downwards. I think this could well get around the kids+airbags general issue and I’m sure a roof could be sufficiently strong to withstand the airbag going off?

Thats what curtain airbags are, common on Volkswagen passat, golf, 5 series bmw...

Curtain airbags fire from the top of the doors covering the side windows and only go off in side impact.

That curtain airbag is in the rear, no?

Well spotted. It doesn't fire down from the roof directly in front of the rear seat passenger to protect them from the back of the seat in a frontal impact as per the discussion though?

My mistake for not being clear. I was taking of a curtain style airbag running side to side as opposed to front to back.

[jamei303]

Plenty of airlines have seatbelt airbags on their aircraft, don't see why these can't be used for rear seat car passengers

[HTP99]

jamei303 said:

Plenty of airlines have seatbelt airbags on their aircraft, don't see why these can't be used for rear seat car passengers

I seem to recall a few years ago, rear seat seat, belt airbags were trialled and tested by a few manufacturers but they have never materialised

[Rat_Fink_67]

jamei303 said:

Plenty of airlines have seatbelt airbags on their aircraft, don't see why these can't be used for rear seat car passengers

These are optional on a mk5 Mondeo.

[anonymous-user]

The Moose said:

SWoll said:

AlrightYouns said:

SWoll said:

AlrightYouns said:

The Moose said:

Rather than being in the seats, they could be in the roof and fire vertically downwards. I think this could well get around the kids+airbags general issue and I’m sure a roof could be sufficiently strong to withstand the airbag going off?

Thats what curtain airbags are, common on Volkswagen passat, golf, 5 series bmw...

Curtain airbags fire from the top of the doors covering the side windows and only go off in side impact.

That curtain airbag is in the rear, no?

Well spotted. It doesn't fire down from the roof directly in front of the rear seat passenger to protect them from the back of the seat in a frontal impact as per the discussion though?

My mistake for not being clear. I was taking of a curtain style airbag running side to side as opposed to front to back.

Edited by anonymous-user on Sunday 19th November 08:12