On Fri, Nov 19, 2004 at 01:27:28PM -0500, John Kelly wrote:
> While the above is only a recomendation at this time, I have to ask what
> happens to anybody whose face is exposed to the air bag "safety" device
> during a collision?
An airbag is designed to distribute the force of impact across a wide
area, which reduces the maximum amount of pressure your body/head are
exposed to. It's still going to smart -- there may be "rug-burns" or
bruises, but it's not going to break anything.
A helmet is designed to do the same thing for just your head.
However, it won't distribute the force across as wide an area as the
air bag would, because it contacts the front of your head over a
smaller area. I think the concern in this case is that the force from
the air bag pushes the helmet up and back, and it's the contact point
between the chin-guard and your jaw that resists most of that force.
That would tend to concentrate the pressure on your jaw rather than
allowing it to be distributed across your face.
In the case of the combination of a full face helmet with an airbag,
the helmet defeats the function of the airbag, and concentrates the
force rather than spreading it.
> Does this study include what happens to a person wearing an "open-face"
> helmet?
Since the concern seems to be contact between the chin bar and the
jaw, the problem in question could not happen with an open-face
helmet. It would be effectively the same as the case with no helmet.
> I'm having difficulty resolving how a "study" done in Formula 1 cars
> relates to sedans.
Are the air bags in F1 cars fundamentally different from those in
passenger cars? What is there about a passenger car that would alter
the outcome?
You put "study" in quotes, as if you don't believe the research was
valid. Is there a reason to doubt the motives or methods of the
authors?
--
john@idsfa.net John Stimson
http://www.idsfa.net/~john/ HMC Physics '94
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