Whatever You Do: Don’t Put Your Feet on the Dashboard
It’s a long car ride. You’re tired and want to stretch a bit. So you do something that you think is harmless, innocuous, and which feels pretty good: You put your feet up on the dashboard. Many of us have even figured out ways to do this when we are the driver of the car, not just the passenger.
But think again: this supposedly harmless position can be deadly, for a number of reasons, in the event that you are in a car accident.
Crash Test Results Are Concerning
In crash test dummy tests, where the dummy was simulated in that very same, feet-on-dashboard position, the results were quite sobering. The dummies routinely suffered catastrophic injuries, even in crashes that they otherwise would not have suffered such injury had they been seated normally.
The primary problem comes from the airbag, and the force it deploys with. The airbag is so strong that it can actually cause your feet to smash into your face when the bag deploys. It can cause your own knees to crush your eye sockets. It can cause your feet to crush your skull, or cause you to lose most of your front teeth.
Worse, just sitting in that position tends to make the occupant slide down the seat. This alters the position of the seat belt, rendering it much less effective. The lowered position of the body can lead to torn bowels, or spinal injuries.
Real Injuries To Real People
According to the National Traffic Safety Administration, of all the people who were killed because of or related to the inflation of a vehicle’s airbags, a whopping 80% of them were not sitting properly in an upright position in their vehicle’s seats.
There are photos of X-rays of victims who were riding in this position which show femurs not just dislodged or dislocated, but so out of place that the femur is lodged into the pelvic bone.
Occupants of cars who ride like this often come out of accidents with injuries that are life altering—all while other occupants of the car, who were seated normally, come out with little or no injury at all.
And no—you won’t have time to put your feet down, in the milliseconds that it takes your airbag to deploy. They deploy faster than you can blink.
Comparative Negligence
If you are in an accident and you are injured because you were not sitting up properly, you still can get compensation from another driver, if the other driver caused the accident.
But of course, they will argue, and a jury can consider the fact that your injuries, in full or in part, were due to your seat position and having your feet on the dashboard. Experts are often needed to determine who and how injuries are caused, when feet were on dashboards in car accidents.
Injured in an accident or by an airbag? Call the Boston personal injury lawyers at The Law Office of Joseph Linnehan, Jr. today for help with your accident case and with your questions at 617-275-4200.
Sources
newshub.co.nz/home/lifestyle/2018/06/why-you-should-never-ride-with-your-feet-on-the-dashboard-experts.html
mynrma.com.au/cars-and-driving/driver-training-and-licences/resources/feet-on-dash
autoblog.com/2020/01/27/x-ray-injuries-feet-on-car-dashboard/
