Driver Airbag Hand Injuries; 10 and 2 is Not the Rule

Case scenarios:

• A driver sustains multiple fractures of the forearms and wrists driving her car with both hands over the airbag cover in a collision.
• Two MN state troopers sustained fractured thumbs while resting their thumbs over the center airbag cover
• A wedding ring of a female's left hand causes a large facial laceration just above the left eye while driving her vehicle with the left hand on top of the wheel.

Think back to when you took drivers education in high school.

• Did the instructor teach you to hold the steering wheel at the 10 and 2 o'clock positions?
• Did he teach you to use the hand over hand method for turning?
• Do you steer your vehicle with one hand on top of the wheel?

Back to the Basics?
Every car, SUV and light duty truck must come equipped with a driver and passenger airbag (see www.safercars.org). They are designed by engineers to save both the unbelted and the belted occupant. Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (www.highwaysafety.org) reports nearly 18,000 lives have been saved from airbags. Maximum effectiveness from the supplemental restraint airbag is accomplished by wearing your seatbelt. Seatbelts properly position the body during precrash braking, resulting in proper body position for airbag deployment.

Unbelted occupants are much more at risk from a deploying airbag injury. If a driver brakes a vehicle before it crashes, unbelted occupants in the front seat are likely to continue to move forward, closer to the airbag when it deploys. If the crash is complicated, with minor impacts before the airbag is deployed by a more significant impact, the same thing may happen. It is not suprizing that most airbag related fatalities were unbelted occupants and children. Airbags deploy at 100-200 mph in fractions of a second. Airbags are lubricated with cornstarch or talc powder. Wearing your seatbelt allows you to ride out the deploying forces of the supplemental airbag. Airbags do cause some injuries; however, a majority of the injuries are primarily minor injuries to the face, arms and the hands.

How to Hold the Steering Wheel
Several years ago, I took a performance driving class with professional driving instructors. Instructors were teaching law enforcement officers to drive their patrol vehicles with their hands at the 9 and 3 o'clock positions, not the 10 and 2. My thumbs were not to be locked inside the wheel, but rather kept on the outer ring of the wheel. While driving the vehicle around the driving course, I was instructed to smoothly shuffle steer (use the push-pull technique) the vehicle and not to do the hand over hand whenever possible.

Mitch Becker, Technical Consultant with ABRA Auto Body & Glass, teaches airbag and automotive safety designs to a number of automobile, I-CAR, and insurance groups. Mitch says that since the airbag deploys out of the center of the wheel, driving the vehicle with the hands or arms over the airbag would result in forearm injuries and injuries to the face. Changing the hands to the 9 and 3 would allow the driver to flex and bend at the elbow joint, allowing the driver's upper body position to sit with a minimum 10 inches between the airbag and the center of the chest (sternum). This is particularly beneficial to shorter drivers, drivers of larger size, and pregnant persons, thus allowing the driver to sit back as far as possible from the drivers' airbag.

The Hand Position Story
KMSP-TV Fox Channel 9, Reporter Jeff Ballion from in Minneapolis, became interested in airbag safety. Jeff indicated many drivers were unaware of the "new driving hand position." We decided to put the 9 and 3 hand position to a demonstration. Jeff and his camera crew met Mitch and me at John's Auto Parts in Blaine. We selected a 1992 Ford Taurus wagon and placed a Rescue Randy firefighting mannequin behind the steering wheel airbag. We painted the forearms orange and the thumb blue to illustrate the contact points with the thumbs in the contrast color.

On the first car, the hands were placed at the 10 and the 2 o'clock positions (true grip) with the thumbs inside the wheel. When the airbag deployed, the left arm rocketed off the wheel, striking the windshield pillar and then striking the left side glass. The paint was removed by the scraping of the airbag from the inner medial aspect of both forearms. The right arm stayed clamped to the wheel and was bent by the deploying airbag with great force. In a real person, something would have given and broken between the thumb and the forearm. The paint was removed from the entire inner surface of the arm and the top of the thumb and was deposited onto the airbag fabric. The plastic cover flaps of the airbag housing contacted the inner wrists of both arms with the force of the opening airbag.

On the second car, the hands were placed at the 9 and 3 o'clock positions with the thumbs on the outer rim of the wheel (false grip). When the airbag deployed, the left arm was knocked sideways into the side door panel. The right arm at the 3 o'clock position with the thumb on the outside of the rim was blown sideways and flew toward the seat cushions. There was 50% less paint removed from both inner forearms, there was no plastic cover flap mark on either wrists or arms from the airbag housing. There was no contact of the hands or the arms with the windshield pillar or the side door glass.

When driving, it is important to note that honking your horn at the moment of a crash can be dangerous too, because the horn button is often right in the center of the wheel - right where the airbag comes out! This can place the hands and the arms right over the airbag when it deploys, and the hands and forearm can be punched into the face. Some manufacturers are moving the horn and cruise controls to the sides of the wheel to avoid this scenario.

The 2006 edition of the Minnesota Drivers Manual on page 31, Airbag Safety Suggestions section says, "Try to maintain at least 10 inches between yourself and the steering wheel. Keep your hands on the 8 and 4 o'clock or 9 to 3 o'clock position on the steering wheel. Avoid the 10 and 2 o'clock position. Keep your thumbs turned out on the steering wheel."

"Certainly drivers should avoid holding their hands in the airbag danger zone: over the top of the wheel, over the airbag cover, and on the bottom," says Dr. David Roberts, Emergency Department physician at North Memorial Medical Center, who has been tracking airbag injuries. Dr. Roberts advocates that drivers follow this recommendation and keep their hands to the sides of the steering wheel for much of their driving. He also advocates that drivers always keep two hands on the wheel for critical maneuvering of the vehicle in any emergency situation.

Read Your Owners Manual on Airbags
Several vehicle owners' manuals suggest to drivers to not hold their arms over the airbag. Some vehicle manufacturers have modified their steering wheel designs, encouraging drivers to adopt hand positions along the sides. Some manufacturers are also making the steering wheel less comfortable to grip at the top and at the 10 and 2 by making the thickness of the rim larger and with different material textures. Jeff Payne, Las Vegas based race car driver and President of www.DriversEdge.org, also recommends and teaches the 9 and 3 o'clock hand position for driving. The American Occupant Restraint Council (www.aorc.org) also advocates this driving hand position.

Be sure to check out your owner's manual on airbags and supplemental restraint information for your vehicle. Remember, that our first priority is to drive the vehicle safely and to avoid all collisions. Buckle up for every trip, every ride, every item of equipment and every transport.

Dave Long, The Airbag Detective, Medic, RN is a national presenter and NHTSA CPS technician (dave.long@northmemorial.com.) He spoke at the 2006 EMS Expo Conference in Las Vegas with Jeff Payne of DriversEdge.org on ambulance crashes and top defensive driving tips. He is a NHTSA Car seat technician and also spoke at the Florida Kids Motion Conference. He is now the lead driving instructor for North Memorial Ambulance; a CASS accredited hospital based ambulance service for 600 employees in Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Special thanks to Mitch Becker, Technical Consultant, ABRA Auto Body & Glass, and I-CAR Instructor.