Long rides can be tiresome and uncomfortable, especially if you have luggage or snacks stored on the floor, on the passenger side. With not much place to rest your feet, the dashboard seems to be the only other obvious place for passengers to rest their feet. But is this really safe?
The answer is a definite no. Upon impact, passenger frontal airbags are deployed from inside the dashboard at speeds of more than 200km/h. If a passenger has their feet on the dash, two things can happen; once the airbag deploys, it may cause the knees to push backwards, slamming into the passenger’s face resulting in serious injury.The deployed airbag can also drive the passenger’s thigh bones through their pelvis, which may result in the passenger never being able to walk again.
Accidents are unavoidable sometimes due to other driver’s mistakes and a vehicles safety features (i.e airbags) provide protection from injury. The vehicle structure, seat belt system and airbags are all designed to provide crash protection. However, these features don’t work as intended if the person in the car is not sitting upright in the vehicle.
It is very important to ensure that you and your passengers’ are as safe as possible when travelling by car – the simplest and safest solution in this particular case; keep your feet on the floor and never place them on a dashboard.