Airbag Safety in the Police-Fire and EMS Vehicle

In August of 2002, National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA), Special Crash Investigation Team members announced a nationwide "Aftermarket Communications Equipment Installation" bulletin regarding the safety installation of police type communications equipment installed in the police vehicle. NHTSA SCI Team learned of several cases of officers being injures when equipment (laptop computers) were incorrectly mounted in front of the airbags from cases Dave Long, The Airbag Detective, Minneapolis, Minnesota. Airbags save lives, Dave studies how they are misused and misunderstood, and has tracked several injury cases and mismounts in police vehicles.
With today’s law enforcement/Fire/EMS vehicles coming equipped with the driver and passenger side frontal airbags, some departments may have difficulty in mounting electronic equipment such as cell phones, radios, computer and laptop screens. Since July 2001, at a several Governors Highway Safety Conferences, roughly one third of the law enforcement vehicles I observed appeared to have mismounted equipment in front of the airbags. Here are some examples of actual incidents involving law enforcement officers in vehicle collisions:
Officer struck in the face by radar wire when airbag deploys, damaging his sight in the right eye. Officers rifle weapon knocked loose by deploying airbag and stuck the officer in the head resulting in a concussion. Deploying airbags launch laptop screen into side of officer's head causing concussion and head laceration. Deploying airbags launch laptop into officers’ face causing broken nose and several damaged teeth.

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