trucks and airbags - is this safe?

[Mere]

A neighbor of mine has a Dodge ram pickup with an extended cab, and thus the airbags do not turn off in the front. However, she has a bench seat, and the airbags are on the driver and passenger side. Does this mean that if a child was sitting in the middle they would be safe from an airbag deployment?

I *know* the backseat is always safer, but occasionally it would be really handy if she could take my dd (who is in a booster) to a class with her kids. Her truck is also so huge that if dd is going to ride in the front seat of any car, I feel better about her doing it in such a large vehicle (maybe that's a false sense of security...).

[thepeach80]

What's in the back seat that you can't use it for carseats? My DH has a Silverado extended cab and I had all 3 carseats (1 rfing) back there yesterday. He also has an on/off for his airbag so the boys have ridden up front sometimes when the back is full of work stuff. To answer your question though, the driver's side airbag is generally big enough to help protect the middle passenger as well. So you don't want a rfing seat in the middle of a pickup truck even w/ the airbag off b/c the driver's airabg would get the seat. The middle of trucks also don't have shoulder belts so a booster can't use that spot anyways, it has to have a shoulder belt. If there's no way she can ride in the back, she needs to be sitting in her booster properly w/ the seat all the way back.

[Mere]

My friend has 3 kids, so the backseat is full! THat's a good point though about the middle maybe not having a shoulder belt...I'll have to ask her. So you think for sure that the front passenger airbag extends into the middle seat?

[thepeach80]

So you think for sure that the front passenger airbag extends into the middle seat?

It's the front driver's side that covers the middle.