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
Honestly, I’d prefer to not have airbags so long as we have good seat belts. The only person I know who was in an accident that caused airbags to go off would have been less injured without it (it broke his thumb when the airbag went off).
I usually leave her home..the airbagless car I mean.
The first 29+ years of my life were pre-Airbag, so doesn’t matter to me. Seatbelts however, are absolutely non-negotiable. My parents trained me to buckle up before anything else, and that goes for any/everyone in the vehicle. I’ve never been in a Bad crash, but have been in a few minor incidents that would have been much more consequential, ironically, if there were airbags involved.
I drive a car with no airbag – but I live in NY, so I can choose not to drive when I don’t feel like it.
My fleet includes a 1995 Ford F-150. I’m actually more concerned about its aging airbag filling my chest with little metal bits because I hit a railroad crossing too hard than I would be worried about having my ribcage having a violent meeting with an airbag-less steering wheel in a collision.
I used to pretty much exclusively drive cars with seat belts as the only safety feature (I’d go so far as to put them into cars that didn’t come with them originally). DD’d all manner of cars with no air bags. Got in a highway speed head on, small overlap (remember that crash test that all the manufacturers failed? like that but higher speed) and nearly bought the farm. Zero fault or anything I could have done remotely better or even differently, just an absolute massive idiot in the other car. The best driver in the world is no match for wild idiots. I made it. My dog made it. It was pretty traumatic. More for my wife than me, and that’s the kicker. Now I’ve got kid(s in two months), and it’s one thing to take on the risk for myself when I’m young and dumb. Now I have to worry about them and them worrying about me. The classic car fleet is gone now, and I’m playing with more modern fare. I would ride in a car without safety features, and even drive one, but I can’t justify owning one at this point in my life. Doesn’t mean I don’t have a short list of classics I pine after when I see them out and about…
Yes, I drive a car every day that never had airbags. Also yes I have driven cars where they were removed or disabled.
No airbags on a track/toy car where I can just opt out of things when I’m not cool with the risk? No problem.
For an appliance/daily driver however where I’m forced to contend with everyone and their bad driving habits, everything. In fact, give me spike belt launchers on the undercarriage and a HIMARS battery strapped to my roof for direct fire in front just in case! Also paint it red so it goes faster so I can zip to work before they notice.
I own two 50 year old cars and a couple of motorbikes, so yes. I have ordered an airbag vest for when I’m on the bikes though. Gotta be safe some of the time at least.
Had a regular customer years back tell the story of being trapped in an older car half under a semi trailer for some time while his unseatbelted buddy in the passenger footwell died beside him. I always belt up, and would absolutely repair or replace an airbag if equipped.
However, given the semi-rural area I live in, I won’t limit my driving experience to only airbag-equipped vehicles. And, frankly, with my predilection for playing on gravel & dirt, there’s a decent chance I’ll buy that farm by sliding backwards into it
Lately I’ve been riding more in cars which doesn’t have airbags than cars with airbags. I think being a car enthusiast and life generally would suck if I was limited only for cars with the airbags.
So many cool cars predate airbags that I completely agree. I very much want a Volvo 1800ES, and it’s lack of a garage to keep it in rather than the safety aspect that keeps me from one
This is exactly one of my concerns. I would love to drive some older cars, but I would still like the safety. Not even in crashes with other cars, because where I live, it’s not particularly uncommon for cars to hit a moose, and I’ve seen the way the sheetmetal crumpled up like a blanket after one of these crashes. If I were driving in the night on a snowy road and suddenly seeing a moose on the road I would certainly feel safer with an airbag. But then again, som many cool cars don’t have them. I would probably like airbags in my daily and in the car I drive long distances in.
The one time I had airbags deploy they did more harm than good. The crash happened at a low speed and I didn’t even make it to where the airbags were as I was wearing my safety belt.
Obviously they would have come in far more handy on a worse crash, I definitely don’t mind having them.
That said, the US regulations forcing airbags to account for passengers not wearing safety belts should be revised. At some point you have to let idiots be idiots since you’re doing more harm than good when most people are not idiots (when it comes to safety belt wearing).
Insert meme, No airbags, we die like men. At least for my grumpy ass.
Unless it’s my wife and kids in the car then airbags all the way. I’ve seen how she drives, six crashes in 5 years gives some indication.
Yes I will ride in a car without airbags(I generally do) and yes I will ride in a new car with nonfunctional airbags.
I’m not real big on airbags anyways. There is no question that airbags have saved more lives than they have taken, but there is also no question that countless minor and sometimes major injuries have been directly caused by airbags.
Believe it or not, putting a bomb in front of the driver has some major safety risks. That’s why one in six drivers airbags ever sold in the US market have been recalled JUST IN THE TAKATA RECALLS. Especially as they age, bombs are just not consistently safe.
When dad purchased our ’64 F100 coach-built crewcab, he installed seatbelts that were not required at the time. Shortly after I bought my ’67 VW squareback that had short seat-backs, I purchased later full height seats and upgraded seat belts from two-point to three-point belts. If I could buy air-bags for my old vehicles, I would.
“This is obvious, given that many vehicles built prior to 1998 are still on the roads.”
Yeah, I wish!
Apart from the odd Tercel, a true cockroach of sorts, I can go many days,.weeks even without seeing a pre-Y2K vehicle. Today I saw an slk 230, but it clearly wasn’t a daily, and yesterday I was pleasantly surprised to see a 300ZX in the wild. That said, cars built prior to the 2000s really aren’t that common in places with white winters. Heck, pre 2010 vehicles are getting rare!
Do you live in the rust belt? Here in the desert where rust isn’t an issue, probably 1/3 of cars in certain areas are older than the millennium.
Canuckistan, QC more specifically
I still see 80s cars being used for transportation on a daily basis in the PNW. Never wanted to live in a land that eats cars.
I mean, it depends. Would I put my family in a car without airbags for a long road trip. No. Would I take them to the beach in my dads old Hilux farm truck. Yeah of course. Would I buy a car without airbags? Maybe… it depends what it is, how I’m going to use it etc.
A modern car with no airbags is still safer than a vintage car with no airbags. . . and I have no qualms about riding in a vintage car.
I drive around in an 87 Corvette with no airbags and rarely even think about it. In hindsight, riding in the car as a kid in the armrest with no roof was pretty irresponsible on my dad’s part.
Sure! Can I also get it without Auto Start/Stop, Infotainment Padd, Auto E braking, TPMS, stupid cameras and sensors everywhere?
Mixed feelings on this, it’s a bit uneasy to have a k/o airbag in today’s traffic as far as I’m concerned, especially in a daily. Older/enthusiasts cars without an airbag are ok in my book (if you care for the car you should get it fixed if it was there, right?). Also, I applaud you for choosing Alfa’s 166 interior as the top pic.
Airbags are a mixed blessing, just as someone who had a Tekata blow up in their face. Wear your seatbelt belt. One reason the airbag was developed was that idiots don’t.
Fact: Airbags are not legally required in Canada. However, Provincial regulations may require them to be functional if a vehicle had them originally fitted to pass a safety inspection.
Really?
Guess motorcycles must be instant death.
That is not. “Car guy / gal “ question….