Hi everyone. I am a newbie to this board (and to cars in general).

I am about to purchase my sister's 1995 Acura Integra LS. This is my first car. I am a fairly inexperienced driver (got my license a few years ago but I hardly drove). I am female and vertically challenged!!! (I'm about 5 feet tall).

Because of my shortness, I have to move the seat closer to the wheel than most people. I'm very concerned about being too close to the wheel if the airbag was ever deployed.

What measures could I take to limit injury to myself from an airbag deployment? I have to be closer to the wheel so I can reach the pedals. However, I think because I'm an inexperienced driver, being closer to the wheel is supposed to give new drivers a sense of comfort and control. So maybe as I get more conformtable, I'll move my seat farther away from the steering wheel.

How safe are Acura airbags? Have there been many serious injuries from their deployment?

I know that I should stay 25 cm/10 inches away from the steering wheel. But at 10 inches, I don't know if I feel confortable with the pedals.

Sorry if this has been discussed before. I'm a real newbie to cars and you all seem like a friendly group of people!

Thanks for reading!

 

You can get some pedal covers that aside from looking a bit tacky will make it easier to reach the pedals. Just be sure you sit as far back from the wheel as possible.

Oh, and don't run into anything.

 

what part of you is 10 inches from the steering wheel? I used to sit really close to my steering wheel when I had my 95 GSR, and I was always concerned about the same thing, since my friend with a Ford Probe had crashed his car and I saw his airbag was huge.

Well I found out one day (the hard way) that my airbag was damn small! The thing is tiny compared to the size of my friend's Probes airbag. It was fairly wide, but it wasn't very deep at all...in fact, when I crashed my face barely touched it.....I think you'll be fine

 

I distance myself a good amount and the airbag still felt like being punched in the face. Guess it all depends. My girl is 4'11''-5'' and she sits sorta close but she just leans the back rest part further back. If you do that you should be fine. It's better then the alternative I suppose (hitting your head on your steering wheel/windshield).

But I'm still not a firm believer in airbags but in your position I would say keep the airbag. For people who sit further back I would honestly say the seatbelt is good enough. The gas from the airbags tend to burn people's skin, eyes, and the impact feels about the same as hitting the steering wheel. I speak from experience.

 

heh, maybe I was lucky then when I crashed. I know my girlfriends eye got messed up from the passenger airbag, but that was becuase her seat rail bent and her whole seat moved forwards.

but like dvs said, the air bag would feel a whole lot better than the steering wheel.

 

You guys have problems.... I buy rebuilders in which the airbags have already deployed... then there is no problem...

Later

 

What the heck are you talking about??? Are you schizophrenic? Because none of that made sense, nor does it have anything to do with her question.

 

what?

 

Airbags save men and kill women. A woman your size was killed by her airbag after being rear-ended while sitting at a red light. The airbag went off and literally crushed her to death. Apparently the airbag system works regardless of vehicle speed; it deploys based on a sudden change in velocity. This was in Toronto, but pick any major city... I'm sure they have dozens of similar stories.

My wife is your size... I won't let her drive my car. I called my dealership and asked them about it. Basically they don't know anything and blah blah blah Honda Canada is investigating.

Anywhoo, my friend works at Delphi on their airbag programs with staged deployment via. proximity sensors and whatnot. But, as always only the rich will see these technical marvels in their upper end luxury vehicles. Given time, the technology will trickle down to us poor folk.

You could ask your Acura dealer if they could disable the airbag; however, I'm pretty sure that it's a criminal offence in Canada to disable federally mandated safety equipment (don't know about the U.S.). Statistically, you would be safer without it.

 

Here, found it:

http://www.plescia.org/archabpost/airbags/00000185.htm