What happens to a person wearing glasses when the air bags go off? Are the eyes permanently damaged?
No. The air bag would have to pack enough force to shatter your lenses and drive pieces into your eyes. I’ve been wearing glasses for 50+ years and that scenario has never occurred to me until now.
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- to @davepsinbox_157004 By the time the air bag gets to your face it should be fully inflated. While still a strong force to your body, it is as evenly distributed as it can be. You will still get a bruised face and the glasses may break. The air bag is doing its job keeping you away from sharp pointy things that could hurt your eyes.
Google air bags and glasses for a bunch of articles
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So in other words, a longer version of “No.”
I tried to + Daves and it just gave a dot.
Remember that glasses aren’t made out of glass anymore. They’re often made out of polycarbonate, which is used to make things like fighter jet cockpits and bulletproof glass. It’d be pretty hard to get 'em to shatter with a hammer, much less an airbag.
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Speaking of air bags again, the Sheriff has cautioned to not fold your thumb around the steering wheel like we always did/do. He has seen a lot of broken thumbs when the bags go off. I’ve never had the pleasure myself and don’t intend to.
Many broken glasses have been caused by airbags but I don’t know about eye injuries.
Along with Bings’ comment, our sheriff dept. also recommends hands at 3 and 9 o’clock rather than the 2 and 10 position so your arms are push out rather than up into your face. Though the steering wheel design on my vehicles makes this difficult.
The lenses might not break, but the frames could break at the hinges, or at least deform. The edge of a lens might be driven into the eye, causing damage.
You’d be more likely to be hurt by a broken edge on the frames. Neither is probable IMHO.
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The question was not about probability, but possibility. I have no comment on probability.
The question was,
The answer is, it’s so unlikely the answer is “No.”
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It doesn’t matter. There’s no time to take your glasses off before deployment.