ABS vs Airbag – which would you rather have?

When I saw a “skeleton” of the Proton BLM making the pre-launch rounds at Queensbay Mall in Penang recently, one of the first things I tried to figure out was whether it was going to be equipped with airbags or not. I’ve always thought this should be a particular concern to Malaysians since the number of Malaysians killed in one year on Malaysian roads (around 6000+) is about double the number of American soldiers killed in combat in the entire 4 years of the Iraq war.

The “skeleton” I saw didn’t have any evidence of an airbag; no “pop open” module in the center of the steering wheel, nor any telltale “triggering” wires leading from the steering column. Now that the full specifications are coming to light, I am disappointed to learn that apparently the only model equipped with an airbag is the M-line, priced at RM39,999, which comes with a single airbag for the driver only. While it is a step in the right direction, I’d hate to be a passenger in a new saga and have the last thing I ever see is the driver’s airbag deploying and protecting him just before my skull shatters against the windscreen.

The RM55,000 “high line” Persona gives a much better set of safety features, with airbags for both the driver and the passenger (thank you very much) and it also comes with an Anti-lock braking system (ABS). Now this brings up an interesting topic… obviously Proton wants to keep costs as low as possible to make the new Saga competitive, so they must choose what safety features to leave in and what features to leave out. So which is the most effective thing you can do?

If one had to choose between ABS and an Airbag, it might make sense to choose ABS, because it might help one to avoid an accident BEFORE it happens. An airbag is only useful if an accident has already occurred and your skull is travelling at high speed towards that windscreen. Some experts estimate that an ABS system is activated 4 or 5 times a year for an average driver (presumably having some positive effect on the outcome and hopefully avoiding a collision)… whereas an airbag is only deployed when a collision has already taking place. So most people would actually get some use out of an ABS during the life of their car, whereas an airbag is just going to lay there dormant unless it is used.

Unfortunately, some recent studies have found that despite the perceived benefit you should get from an Anti-lock Braking system, the evidence does NOT show any statistical reduction in fatalities for cars equipped with ABS.

Experts are still arguing why that is, but the most plausible explanation is that the ABS allows the ill-fated driver to continue to steer the car when he slams on the brakes….thus effectively allowing him to steer away from the car stopped in front of him and INTO the oncoming traffic lane, rather than smashing into the backside of the car in front of him.

So if I had to choose, I guess I’d rather have an Airbag than an ABS…I don’t trust myself to avoid an accident in every situation and I’d rather have my skull smack into the pillow-like softness of that airbag rather than the rock-hard windscreen….

Furthermore I think it would be pretty selfish to have only one airbag for yourself and not your passenger…. So let’s hope that future Proton models follow the trend and we start to get Dual Airbags as the minimum configuration and hopefully we see some decline in the Killed In Action rate for the War of the Wheels in Malaysia.