Three Ways to Avoid A Dangerous Air Bag

Earlier this morning I was on a radio talk show chatting about the Takata airbag recalls, and the host asked me if it made sense for people to get their airbags disabled rather than face the possibility of being hit in the face and body with shrapnel if they ever crashed.

The answer is simple: Absolutely not. First, you probably won’t be able to find any mechanics willing to do that for you. Second, the chance that it’s your air bag that will turn into a grenade is very, very slim. Relying on just your seatbelt in a serious accident is a huge gamble that I don’t advise anyone take.

Still, it’s going to take a long time for these airbag parts to be replaced — up to five years by some estimates. That’s a dog’s age to drive around with something dangerous living behind your steering wheel.

Yet most of us put up with just such a threat every day.

My advice? Stop being a shitty driver. The best way to stay safe in a crash is to not get in one in the first place.

“But Sharon,” you might argue, “I am an excellent driver!” I’m sure you are. Or at least, I’m sure you think you are. But studies show that people engage in risky behavior behind the wheel all of the time. And they trick themselves into believing they are able to do these behaviors well because, most of the time, they don’t get into accidents. Until they do.

Here are some common, frustrating driver behaviors you could stop doing today that will slash the likelihood that you will get blasted in the face by a faulty airbag:

1. Stop texting and driving.

OK people. Let’s be frank. A lot of us don’t see any problem with looking at our texts, checking our email, or even popping on to Facebook for a minute while we’re speeding down the highway.

Just this week, AT&T released a report saying that, despite its efforts and other awareness campaigns, drivers are increasingly using their phones for things besides texting while driving. AT&T says that 30 percent of people who post to Twitter claim they do it while driving “all of the time.” Another 10 percent of people will even video chat while driving.

Want to avoid a crash? Stop doing that.