A new study says that passengers traveling in the backseat are putting themselves at greater risk due to disparities in restraint systems. According to the study, conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), though safety standards for passengers in the front seat have steadily advanced throughout the past several years, back-seat safety has lagged behind. While front-seat passengers are guarded by front facing airbags, specially designed belts, and sometimes even side-deploying airbags, safety measures in the backseat may rely solely on a seat belt to help mitigate the impact of a crash. Even when it comes to the types of seat belts used by front and rear passengers, the IIHS said those traveling in the front of the car are at an advantage safety wise. In the study, the IIHS studied 117 crashes where passengers in the back-seat were either killed or injured.

Source: The Star April 26, 2019 07:41 UTC